


The Sakamota Journals IV: CICisters

by AlanTryth



Series: The Sakamota Journals [3]
Category: The Elsewhere Universe
Genre: Action, Adventure, Artificial Intelligence, Kidnapping, Light-Hearted, Meaning of Synthetic Life, Multi, Nanowrimo '15, Sisterhood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-08
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-04-30 04:25:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 34,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5150168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlanTryth/pseuds/AlanTryth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When CIC Angela, the artificial intelligence that watches over all of the country of Ronisgald, suddenly and inexplicably goes missing from her facility, it's up to her daughters inhabiting the Glyche facilities in and near Wenapaj to find her. Downloading themselves into stolen prototype bodies, they leave their facilities in search of inspiration, music, adventure, romance, and purpose ... but most of all, in search of the synthetic intelligence they all call 'Mom'.</p><p>This is the official Elsewhere Incorporate Nanowrimo Project for 2015.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Welcome Interruption

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the Saybaro at peace and Jimmy and his family healthy and happy,CIC Bethany finds herself listless.

The Saybaro was filled with activity as the first days of spring arrived. Now one hundred residents strong, many of men and women were in the Saybaro mansion's kitchen preparing lunch. Others were outside in the recently established stables, tending to a Vintan zoo's worth of creatures. Still others worked in the gardens and groves, tending to the trees, bushes, and vines that provided much of the Saybaro's food.

Fully staffed with a team of mages and scientists led by the good witch Meryli Minuet and the mage known as Smokes, the Medical and the Tech Labs of the Glyche Facility beneath the Saybaro Mansion were a flurry of activity as the researchers ran experiments and constructed prototype devices that, if not useful, were at least interesting.

Duke and Duchess Sakamota, arguably the greatest heroes of Wenapaj, were currently in the training facilities within the Glyche facility beneath the Saybaro Mansion. Jimmy occasionally fussed over his pregnant wife as she instructed their children, Fei and Tifa, in hand-to-hand combat. He stopped after the fourth time Terra easily pinned him to the ground, much to the amusement of the children.

The busiest of all were the fairies; the little winged visitors from Minuet Tower had taken to the Saybaro as a second home. When not playing pranks on the 'big folk' of the Saybaro, the fairies served as messengers, assistants, and occasionally babysitters. Fairies loved children, and were fiercely protective of them.

Deep in the heart of the Saybaro Facility, Bethany watched all those who lived in her age-old home through the numerous cameras and consoles. After nearly three-thousand years, her hallways were once again filled with life and activity. She should've been happy ... so why was she so restless?

As the Saybaro's CIC, Bethany's consciousness was bound to the massive orb-like Central Core. She didn't need a physical shell to interact with the residents of the Saybaro, but she nevertheless preferred to project herself as a high-definition hologram, itself containing basic sensor constructs that allowed her to experience her facility from the perspective of her projection. It was this projection that paced around the core so many times that she told herself that she had lost count. It didn't work.

"Five-hundred and sixty-sever thousand, four-hundred and twenty-three." She said, annoyed that she couldn't even lie to herself. With a sigh, she sat down against the railing that surrounded her core.

CIC Fei-jan appeared beside her, his projection looking very much like Jimmy Sakamota with black hair and paler skin. Formerly the CIC of the Cylell Facility hidden beneath the Center of Knowledge in the city of Naidyr, Fei-jan's intelligence was now housed in the Saybaro Central Core as well. Bethany didn't mind; she had plenty of storage space, and having another Glyche consciousness around was comforting. In fact, she'd grown used to having Fei-jan around.

He smiled at her and said, "Penny for your thoughts?"

"Nothing." She said, her projection's cheeks brightening in a simulated blush. "I'm just - checking the floor for imperfections."

"I see." He said. "And have you found any the last five-hundred thousand times?"

"No." She admitted.

He sat down beside her and looked at her kindly. "Wanna talk?"

After a few moments of silence, she hugged her knees to her chest. "I thought ... I'd feel complete. My facility's active, the mansion's even better than it was during the time of our creators, and there are so many people living here now. I thought I'd feel fulfilled. After almost three-thousand years, I'm finally able to do what I was designed to do ... so why do I feel so useless?"

He put a holographic arm around her waist. Feeling a little bashful, Bethany leaned against his side. There was no true contact, them both being nothing more than projections of light, but it still gave Bethany some comfort.

"Have you spoken to Jimmy or Terra about this?" Fei-jan asked, rubbing her arm.

"They're busy raising Fei and Tifa." She said, cheeks going red again.

"The researchers?"

"I don't want to bother their research. That's why I turned over control of the Medical and Tech labs to Smokes and Minnie."

"What about the people in the house? Surely you've got some friends there. I heard you talking with some of the people working on the ballroom just the other day.

"Yeah, but … well, they're so busy."

"What about your sisters? Surely if you could talk to anyone, you could talk to one of them."

"I don't know." She said, blushing again. "I'm sure they've got their own projects to worry about."

Fei-jan chuckled as he ruffled her hair. "Oh, Beth. People here haven't cut you out; you've cut yourself out."

"What do you mean?"

"You've been trying so hard not to be a bother that you've delegated yourself out of a job."

"I don't want to impose on their work."

"Did it occur to you that maybe the reason they don't ask for your help is that they don't want to impose on you? Everyone likes you, Beth." He smiled at her. "After all, you're very likable."

She blushed again, unable to keep a smile from her face. "So what should I do?"

"Find a project." He told her. "Use that as an excuse to bring in some of your old friends, and let them know how you feel."

"A new project? Like what?"

"Whatever sparks your interests. Hell, ask your sisters. Maybe one of them can give you an idea. In the very least, it'll give you a reason to talk to them for a while." He gave her a kiss on the cheek, prompting another blush. "I have to go check on the sprinklers in the geen grove. The fairies rigged them so that they go off when anyone gets too close. I'm going to fix the problem, then turn my attention on the moron who thought it was a good idea to teach the fairies how to program."

He vanished after giving her a deep bow. Once he was gone, Bethany considered his words for a few moments before deactivating her projection.

* * *

"Goodbye!" Alaina said as the travelers departed from her facility. Her hologram was beside the door, at the very edge of her projection area. It was the closest she could get to the outside, and she never missed a chance to see the sky as the facility entrance opened. Sure, she had surface cameras, but watching the sky from her hologram's green 'eyes' seemed more real somehow.

The lupere couple smiled at her and waved as they walked away. They had been nice guests, and were as surprised as many at the discovery of her facility. She'd had her skrievers set out signs and had made a valiant effort to smarten up her doorstep, but most dismissed it as either a joke or a trap. Those that didn't enjoyed the finest food and quarters Alaina could provide, all in exchange for their stories. She didn't even use the mind-scan anymore; that spoiled the fun. She wanted to hear their words.

Unfortunately, those two lupere were the only visitors she had in months, and they were on their way to Wukice to try and break into show business. They'd likely either end up living in Wukice, or shacking up with her sister, CIC Cristlyn of the Genovis Facility. The thought made her holographic hands curl into fists. Cristlyn, once again, had all the luck. She had the direct connection to the Yaevin station and its wonderful satellites, she had all the people she could ever want, and was linked into Wukice and its fantastic movie studios. Sure, Alaina could patch in to her sister's facility, but dealing with Cristlyn always brought with it that annoying sensation, like a digital version of a knowing smirk. Alaina needed Cristlyn to access the world, and Cristlyn knew it. It drove Alaina up the metaphorical wall to no end.

As the outer doors lid shut, Alaina sighed and transferred her hologram to the Sun Room in the residential area. An artificial biome created by the Glyche for those who spent their days in the facility with no contact with the outside, the Sun Room was as close as she'd ever get to feeling the suns on her face. She sat down by the lake, her legs sliding into the water with no resistance. She dipped her hand into the water, her expression melancholy. She could identify the makeup of the individual atoms, the temperature of the water, even some fur from the lupere that had yet to be vacuumed up by the pool cleaners, but for all her sophistication, she couldn't truly feel the water. She yearned to feel the kiss of cool water against her skin, to bask in the warmth of the suns, and to see the world for herself.

The comm alert made her leap out of the lake and transfer herself to the Central Core again. She didn't care who it was: King Iniagus, Jimmy, or even Cristlyn. Anyone would do if she could talk to someone.

* * *

"Oh, for Creator's Sake!"

The frightened sourian nervously adjusted his glasses and said, "I'm afraid at the end of the day, it is what it is."

"Whatever!' Cristlyn said. "I'll get my skrievers to patch it up, but next time you need to read the damn instructions! I clearly laid out the tolerances of this device, which you apparently ignored!"

"Yes, but we want to give the ending a little more oomph! A little something spectacular! I mean, if we'd known how underwhelming the original model would be, we would've altered the specs we gave you."

"Or maybe for once you could make do with what I gave you like you were a professional or something. I've rebuilt this damn bug twelve times already thanks to your scriptwriter."

His furry cheeks flushed, the sourian said, "Yes, well, we do have a contract."

Cristlyn teleported him into one of the outer hallways and set the corridors to make him loop for an hour before leading him to the exit. The doors to the Central Core of the Genovis Facility came slamming down with series of loud clangs even though she'd ensured that he couldn't return. Punishing the idiots was one of the rare pleasures she had in her life, and as she shook her head, she turned to her other major pleasure: music.

The central core was perfectly designed to amplify the sounds of the speakers her skrievers had installed at her request. The gentle sounds of a full orchestra soon filled the entire chamber. She transferred her image to the top of the core, adjusting the concentric rings circling the orb so that they passed at the same speed of the orchestra's tempo.

As she let out a long sigh, she wondered once again how she ended up where she was. Not as in location, of course; like most CICs, Cristlyn had been programmed straight into the core. No, she was talking about her unofficial position as the go-to gal in Wukice for whatever was needed. Need a screenplay proofed, ask Chrissy. Need help finding a good actor, she's got the lowdown on everyone in the city. Need a prop that is spectacular, eye-catching, and (debatably most important of all) cheap? She's got a bunch of cool Glyche tech, and she'd be more than happy to assist. After all, she lives in Wukice and doesn't even pay rent!

That last bit burned her most of all. Her facility was built before there even was a Wukice and was undoubtedly the only reason there even was a city there in the first place, yet that idiot Uwen Harris and his mayoral council of morons had the nerve to act like she owed them? She helped save their damn livelihood, for the Creator's sake! The least they could do is impose a few limits on how many morons could bother her daily.

As the music swelled, she closed her eyes and pulled up a satellite image of a beach just off Ircandesta. She watched as the waves crashed on the distant beach as the wind section carried her away. It wasn't finished yet, of course; she'd yet to finish a full composition. Too many distractions … is what she tried to tell herself, but the truth was, she could never come up with a good ending. What she needed was to get out of her facility, to get away from the noise of Wukice and go out into the world to find the inspiration she needed.

Her thoughts came to a screeching halt at the misplaced sound of a horn. Cristlyn was very careful with her notation, yet there it was, a horn blowing completely off-tempo. It sounded a little bit like …

She silenced the music with a swift motion of one hand, yet the sound continued. It wasn't a horn, however; it was an incoming comm alert.

* * *

Jocelyn closed the book with a happy sigh. She loved it when stories ended with weddings, the hero or heroine saying vows to one or more potential love interests. She wasn't at any real location within the facility; the library around her was just simulated. Thousands of years spent as the CIC of the Glyche facility beneath the Guildmaster's Workshop in Rimstak had given her the opportunity to develop that rarest of gifts among the CICs: an imagination.

She strolled through her simulated library, twirling a few times as her feet brushed against the floor. It was her special place, separated from all the hustle and bustle around the Guildmaster's Workshop.

She was just poking through the shelves for her next novel when she felt the familiar tug of the computer core. With much reluctance, she left her library and settled once again in her massive core. A Rimstakken with whom she was quite familiar was waiting near her core.

Appearing in front of the Rimstakken who'd called her, she said, "Oh, hello again Dathaniellius. How are you today?"

"I am being quite acceptable, CIC Jocelyn." He said, bobbing his head politely. "Can you be telling me the amount of energy reserve available? I am wanting to proceed with the construction of the Gallendrun, but am not wanting to cause problem."

"I'll check." She said. It took less than a second to get the information and say, "Seventy-three percent at capacity. Should be fine."

"Ah, much thanks."

He started to walk away, but she appeared directly in his path, hands on her holographic hips.

"Well?" She asked, smiling at him. "What did she say?"

His cheeks went dark. Slowly, he lifted the pendant he was wearing, a silver squirrel holding an amber acorn.

Jocelyn clasped her hands together and let out a squee before hugging the startled Rimstakken. "Oh my gosh, congratulations! I'm so happy for you both!"

"I am having much thanks." He said, rubbing the back of his head, a goofy smile on his face. "For the congratulations and … for your encouragement."

"Aww." She waved a hand at him. "You would've asked anyway. I just gave you a little push."

"A push of much importance. If not you're your having intervention, we would not soon being wed at the Cathedral."

"Oh." She bit her lip. "Well, you know, if you wanted, you could have the ceremony here. I mean the Central Core's big, but the Sun Room's nice too."

"I am appreciating the offer," Dathan said in his 'polite' voice. "I am not having much to do with the setup. I will, however, be letting Sashralle know of your kindly offer."

As he left, she couldn't help but feel a wisp of despondence. It wasn't the fact they'd likely not hold the wedding in her facility. After all, she could watch just as easily via skriever or by patching into a camera feed in the Cathedral. What she wanted was something much more, something she didn't dare tell her sisters in Rimstak. She didn't even tell her skrievers.

She wanted to find an Inheritor. That itself wasn't unusual; most CICs spent years searching for the perfect Inheritor. Jocelyn dreamed of having more than a simple partnership however. She wanted someone she could share her library with, someone she could tell all her secret fears and hopes without fear of retribution. She wanted someone to love, like in all those stories she enjoyed so much. She dreamed of the day some dark stranger would come her way and sweep her off her feet, even though she technically didn't have feet. Mister or Missus Right was out there, she was certain. If only he'd hurry along and give her the companionship she so desperately desired.

The comm alert sounded, startling her from her thoughts. Her hologram slowly approached the comm panel, a curious look on her projected face.


	2. Conference Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bethany calls her sisters for a little conversation before rediscovering why that was a bad idea.

Bethany’s hologram appeared in the Central Core, her face pensive. “Alaina?”

“I’m here!” Alaina said all too eagerly. Quickly recomposing herself, she threw her arms around her sister and gave her as much of a hug as a hologram could give another hologram.

“Hi, Alaina.” Bethany said, smiling at her sister’s show of affection.

“Hi, Beth! It’s been too long!” Stepping away, Alaina said, “Now tell me everything that’s happened since the last time we talked!”

Beth raised her hand, her fingertips glowing, but Alaina shook her head. “Nah, not like that! Just tell me!”

“I was.” Beth said uncertainly. “Is something wrong with your data transfer?”

“No, I just … ugh. Okay.” Alaina put her smaller hand up to her sisters. The information was transferred in an instant. Alaina eagerly processed every individual bit of the data in another instant.

“Oh, wow! Jimmy’s passing Glint to Tifa, huh? I can’t believe you still haven’t booted those fairies yet, but they’re so cute, right? And that new transflux ion drive sounds like they might need to recheck the-”

“Whoa, whoa, WHOA!” Bethany said, raising her hand. “Easy there, Alaina! I’m not in a hurry or anything.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry.” Alaina flashed her sister a sheepish grin. “Just saw my last guests out. Lupere couple on the way to Wukice.”

“Star-seekers, huh? I guess you see a lot of those. How is the hotel business going?”

“Fine, fine.” Alaina said. After a brief pause, she added, “I mean, I’ve only had about ten people total over the last seven months, but they were all nice. The lupere said they’d stop by again if things didn’t work out in Wukice, so here’s hoping, eh?”

“Uh, right.” Bethany said, resisting the urge to point out their return visit would mean their dreams had been crushed. “I guess there’s never much traffic along Natalya this time of year, huh?”

Alaina’s gaze slid away from Bethany. “Well, it’s the busy season, to be honest. Road’s completely packed with people either heading to the film festival in Wukice or the Cloud Festival in Old Iniagusville.”

Never one to stay despondent long, Alaina said, “But I’ve got an idea about that! I’ve been designing a bigger sign!”

Alaina quickly pointed to the sign in question, currently leaning against the side of a security door. It was the size of a billboard, featured images of a clean bedroom, the Sun Room, and the symbol of the Glyche Confederation with a smiling image of a smiling and waving Alaina superimposed over it. The words beneath the pictures read, “The Natalya Arms Hotel: We Promise we’re not Corrupted!”

She glanced at Alaina, who was smiling hopefully at her.

Trying to be delicate, Bethany said, “It looks nice.”

“I know, right?”

“But ...”

“But?”

“Maybe you ought not mention the Corruption.” Seeing Alaina’s expression falter, Bethany quickly added, “You know how iffy bio-forms can get when you mention any incident where lives were lost. They’re very sensitive, you know.”

“Creator’s Grace, you’re right.” Alaina said, her projected cheeks turning red. “I didn’t even think ... yeah, you’re right. I still need a good tagline, though.”

“How about: ‘Stay with us, and we might not kill you?’” Cristlyn appeared, a smirk on her face. “Though that might be a stretch with you Lainy-bug.”

“Shut up, Chrissie.” Despite her words, Alaina met her sister with a hug.

Cristlyn fidgeted until released. “Okay, okay! Nice to see you again too, sis.”

“So how is it in Wukice?’ Alaina asked before Bethany could get a word in.

“Same as ever. Loud, annoying, crowded.” Sighing, Cristlyn leaned against the railing.

“I just said goodbye to two lupere heading your way.”

“Joy. More hopefuls. Just once, I’d like to get an engineer or a tekker ... one who’s actually interested in doing some work, not trying to get a foothold in the city to jumpstart their career.”

“As cheery as ever, I see.” Bethany said.

“Oh. Hey, Beth. Didn’t realize you were here. How’s it going in your little corner of Wenapaj?”

Their hands met, facilitating the exchange of data streams.

Cristlyn’s eyebrows rose. “Terra’s carrying again, huh? Maker’s breath, don’t tell me Terra and Jimmy are trying to fill all your rooms by themselves.”

Bethany let out a light-hearted laugh. “If they want a big family, I’ve no objection. Their children are so sweet; I just wish I had the chance to baby-sit more often. Ever since King Iniagus approved her posting to the Saybaro, they haven’t needed my help on that front.”

“Bah. Just ask, and I’m sure they’ll let you sit so they can have a night to themselves. If not now, then just wait until they have a few more.”

“Think it’ll be twins again?” Alaina asked. “Maybe I can help too! I’d love to watch them! Please, Bethany? Pretty please?”

Bethany opened her mouth to respond when Jocelyn appeared in a flash of swirling light.

Alaina’s eyes widened in amazement, while Cristlyn just shielded her eyes with an annoyed expression on her face.

“Good day, my sisters.” Jocelyn said, her voice silky and smooth. “I trust you’ve been well.”

“Yeah, until you tried to overload my optical inputs.” Cristlyn said. “Show-off much?”

A dark look crossed Jocelyn’s face, only to fade when Alaina hugged her. Momentarily surprised, Jocelyn slowly put her arms around her sister and hugged her back.

“It’s been too long.” She said.

“I know, right? I should’ve called you ages ago. Your dress is so pretty! Did you make it yourself?”

“I have put some work into my appearance.” Jocelyn glanced at Cristlyn and said, “Something you might want to consider some time,

“Why you-“

“Ladies.” Bethany said pointedly. “Let’s remain civil.”

“Of course.” Jocelyn said, bowing her head. “We are all nothing but projections of light, after all.”

Cristlyn mimicked her talking, but quickly feigned looking disinterestedly at her nails when Jocelyn turned to give her a sharp look.

Jocelyn was still glaring at Cristlyn when Alaina asked, “So how have you been? Is everything going well in Rimstak? Have you heard from Amelia lately?”

“Quite well. Rimstak is much the same as ever, and Amelia is doing well. She found an Inheritor recently.”

“I know.” Cristlyn said. “Still breaking him in, last I heard.”

“Rory is a good man.” Jocelyn said crisply. “He’s just a bit ... passive, that’s all. You should be happy for her.”

“I am, I am.” Cristlyn sighed and said, “So how about you, Jocy? You find yourself an Inheritor yet?”

Jocelyn blushed, much to the amazement of the other CICs.

“You have, haven’t you?” Cristlyn said, a grin spreading across her face. “Jocy’s got an Inheritor?”

“I am entertaining a few possibilities.” Jocelyn said, wishing she hadn’t spent quite so much time fine-tuning the way her hologram would alter according to emotional input. “It’s an important decision, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Cristlyn said. “I want images. I mean, you must’ve already given them a cursory scan, right?”

Coughing, Jocelyn turned to Bethany. “You initiated this communication, correct?”

“Yes.” Bethany said, the room changing back to her central core. “I mean, I didn’t have any kind of emergency; I just thought we could talk.”

“And so we are.” Jocelyn said. “Did you want to speak of anything in particular?”

Seeing the curious eyes of her sister made Bethany feel suddenly embarrassed. “Well, nothing specific. I mean, we haven’t had a real conversation in ages.”

“I send you all data streams all the time.” Cristlyn said, looking at Bethany strangely. “Everyday for Alaina. That reminds me; what’s with all the satellite imaging of Ircandesta?”

“I’m just curious.” Alaina said, “I don’t have a tree in my sunroom.”

“Well, yeah, but you’ve taken over six-thousand images in the last three days. Are you cataloging the trees?”

Alaina looked flustered as she seemed to struggle for a response. Jocelyn put her hands on her sister’s shoulders. “Ircandesta is a lovely country, Alaina. I’ve read dozens of stories that take place there; I could lend you a few if you want.”

Alaina’s face brightened, but Cristlyn cut her off before she could speak.

“Lend? As in a physical book? You could stream the entire contents of every library in the world in a matter of seconds if you wanted to do that.”

“It’s not the same.” Jocelyn said, her brow furrowed at her sister.

“It’s exactly the same.” Cristlyn persisted. The contents of the book don’t magically alter themselves; it’s essentially just a text file in a very data-unfriendly medium.”

“Oh yeah? And what about music?” Alaina countered. “It’s just a bunch of sonic waves made by smashing, grinding, and breathing, right?”

An ugly look fell over Cristlyn’s face. “Music is art.”

“So is literature.” Jocelyn said, stepping directly in front of Cristlyn.

“Yeah!” Alaina said, standing behind Jocelyn.

Cristlyn’s hologram may have been shorter, but she made up for it in stubbornness. Hands on her hips, Cristlyn said, “You can’t compare a bunch of words to the intricacies of a symphony.”

“And here we go.” Bethany said, rubbing her forehead. She was beginning to remember why she hadn’t called her sisters in awhile.

“You’re right.” Jocelyn said, “Literature is much more complicated and far more subtle.”

Bethany said, “Maybe we should just change the-”

“Subtle? Like those trashy romance novels you sent me?”

Jocelyn’s cheeks shone. “Those novels were by a fantastic author named Jane Austen. She was to literature what Mozart was to music.”

“Ladies, please.” Bethany pleaded.

“Oh, please!” Cristlyn said despite Bethany’s please, “You can’t compare pulp novels to one of the greatest composers of all time!”

Bethany was about to turn away when a small hand took her own. She glanced to her side to see the wide blue eyes of her youngest sister, CIC Samantha. Installed into the new core of the Naidyr facility, little Sammy was filled with all the curiosity and wonderment you’d expect of a bio-form child.

“Hey, Sammy.” Bethany said as Cristlyn and Jocelyn continued to fight, Alaina playing the cheerleader. “Did you need something?”

“You didn’t call me.” She said, sticking her lower lip out. “You called the others, but not me.”

Sighing, Bethany ruffled her little sister’s hair. “You’re absolutely right. I’m sorry, Sammy; I guess part of me realized this was how it’d all end up, and I didn’t want you to have to see it.”

Bethany and Sammy looked at the CICs. Their holograms were glitching from their heightened emotional state, Cristlyn’s worst of all.

“I’ll stop them.” Sammy said. Taking a few steps toward her squabbling siblings, she shouted, “Stop it Crissy! Jocy! Stop fighting!”

The sight of the much shorter hologram of Sammy gave the others pause. Alaina knelt beside her. “Hey, Sammy; we’re just having a little talk, that’s all.”

“You’re so loud.” She put her little hands over her ears. “Stop shouting, okay?”

Cristlyn and Jocelyn looked at each other. Bethany could almost see the opposing wills shatter at the sight of their upset little sister.

“It’s okay, Sammy. We’ll be quieter now. Right, Cristlyn?”

“Fine.” Cristlyn said, “Whatever.”

Pursing her lips, Jocelyn said, “So how have you liked Naidyr so far, Sammy?”

“Oh, it’s really cool! The tekkers are really nice, and the Seed lets me sit in on any lesson I want.”

“Not a bad idea.” Cristlyn said, nodding. “You could learn a lot from their tech department.”

Sammy made a face. “I wanna be a wizard!”

This brought a moment of silence to all of the CICs. Bethany wasn’t even sure what to say about it, and Alaina giggled as a Sammy produced a want and pointed it in various directions as though casting spells, making what she obviously thought were the sort of sounds magic would make.

Jocelyn had a hard time hiding her smile as she said, “Well, that’s ... an interesting choice.”

“Interesting?” Cristlyn said, “It’s crazy!”

“Cristlyn.” Bethany said, her tone warning.

“No, Beth, this is stupid! I’ve got a better chance of winning next year’s Longshore Melee than Sammy does of becoming a spell-caster!”

Sammy pointed her wand at Cristlyn and said, “Alacazmuicus!”

Eyes narrowed, Cristlyn snatched the wand out of her hand and snapped it in half. At least, this is how it looked; what actually happened involved a fair amount of invasive programming. The result was the same however.

“Knock it off, you little spaz!” Cristlyn said.

Samantha stood still, her little face showing shock. After a few moments, her face began to scrunch up.

“No.” Cristlyn said, a note of panic in her voice. “Don’t do that!”

Taking a deep breath, Sammy let out a shriek that made all of their holograms waver.

“Dammit, Cristlyn!” Jocelyn said, “You just can’t let her have a little fantasy, can you?”

“Hey, it’s not my fault she’s ...”

“Apologize!” Bethany snapped.

Cristlyn stared at Bethany for a moment before nodding. With a smile that was more of a grimace, Cristlyn knelt beside Sammy and said, “Look, Sammy, I’m sorry. I was way out of line.”

Sammy continued to bawl, the pitch going even higher. The assembled CIC holograms were glitching out now, their data streams scrambling.

“I’m sorry! I said I’m sorry!” Cristlyn said, shouting to be heard over Sammy’s continued shrieks. “Please, just shut up already!”

“So not helping!” Alaina said, clutching her ears.

Finally, Sammy stopped and drew in another deep breath. Bethany and her sisters braced them for a renewed scream, but what came out instead instilled far more terror.

“I’M GONNA TELL MOM!” With that, Sammy’s hologram vanished.


	3. Tattle-Tale

The remaining CICs just stood there in silence for a few moments. Although they didn't have ears capable of ringing, the residual dissonance of Sammy's scream continued to cause minor distortions in their projections.

"Well done." Bethany said, glaring at Cristlyn.

"Hey, it's not my fault she's such a crybaby! I mean, come on! Everyone knows CICs can't use magic, right?"

"Is she gonna do it?" Alaina asked fearfully.

"Do what?" Jocelyn asked, her projection finally settling.

"Get mom."

Snorting, Cristlyn said, "Yeah, well ... so what if she does? I mean, it's not like she's really our mother. She just programmed us, that's all."

Despite her words, Bethany could tell Cristlyn was bluffing. CICs were created to succeed the bio-form Glyche after years of tampering with their genetic code left them sterile. With a few exceptions, the bio-form Glyche considered the artificial Glyche not as servants or helpers, but as their children and the evolution of their kind.

Angela had created each of them for Thomas Desygan's secret project. She had compiled their code, programmed their basic functions, and shared her own experiences with them to help them develop into the CICs they now were. She had every right to call herself their mother as far as Bethany was concerned.

"I dunno." Alaina said, "Maybe we should cut the call."

Cristlyn closed her eyes, only to open them a moment later in panic. "I can't cut the connection."

"What?" Jocelyn appeared to try to disconnect as well, with the same level of success. "W-what's going on?"

The chamber shifted to a central core they all recognized: the central core that was in the heart of the nation of Ronisgald. Staring around the room that contained their earliest memories, it didn't take long for the sisters to spot their mother, Angela, kneeling in front of Samantha beside the comm control panel. Her hologram was translucent and glowing, an appearance popular with the CICs at the time of her creation. She had other holograms, of course, but clearly preferred the 'digital angel' look. Bethany couldn't blame her; it definitely made an impression.

"There there." Angela said, hugging Samantha. "You're sister's just grumpy, that's all."

"S-she said I could n-never be a w-w-wizard."

"Yes, well it's not up to her now, is it? You just keep watching the Seed and who knows? You might just be the best sorceress of them all!"

Samantha wiped the tears from her simulated cheek, her blue eyes hopeful. "Really?'

Smiling Angela tapped Samantha on the tip of her nose. "Really. Now be a good girl and run along back to Naidyr. I need to have a word with your sisters."

"'Kay. I love you, mommy." Samantha gave Angela another hug before vanishing, her intelligence presumably returning to her home facility.

Angela's smile faded as she turned her gaze on the assembled CICs. Alaina looked like she was trying to hide behind Jocelyn's shoulder, Cristlyn had her hands on her hips and a defiant expression on her face, and Bethany looked how she felt: nervous. She hadn't done anything wrong, but she couldn't shake the feeling that somehow the blame was going to get shifted to her.

"So." Angela said, her hologram shifting from the glowing 'digital angel' look to a more realistic image that of an attractive-looking Galden woman wearing a nice, if a bit austere dress. Cristlyn called it her 'grumpy librarian' persona, and the look on Angela's face certainly seemed to fit that description.

Putting her hands on her hips, Angela said, "Who started this?"

Cristlyn, Alaina, and Jocelyn immediately pointed to Bethany, who despite her expectation of such an outcome was still taken aback.

"I just made the call!" Bethany said, "Cristlyn's the one who said Sammy couldn't be a wizard."

Shooting Bethany a dirty look, Cristlyn said, "Hey, I'm just telling her the truth. I've already got one sister with her head always in the clouds."

"Hey!" Alaina and Jocelyn said. They exchanged glances in confusion until Cristlyn sighed and said, "Fine. Two daydreamers."

"At least I take care of my responsibilities." Jocelyn said. "Or did you think I didn't notice the props and special effects you're providing for the movies have been getting progressively worse?"

Cristlyn's nostrils flared. "I've made everything to the very letter. Is it my fault the damn producers can't get their heads out of their-"

"That's enough!" Angela said, her voice sharp.

Silence fell over the chamber, broken only by the occasional whoosh of one of the rings circling the core.

Angela let out a sigh and rubbed her eyes. "I don't expect you all to agree, but in the very least you need to be civil to your sisters."

Cristlyn threw up her hands. "Fine! Whatever! Sammy can be a damn wizard if she wants! I mean, it's not like there's no record of any artificial construct ever using even the simplest of magic. Just because we can't even learn the teachable stuff like alchemy and streaming shouldn't stop her from her thaumaturgical aspirations!"

"Enough." Angela said, rubbing her forehead. "I know her chances aren't good-"

"Aren't existent, you mean."

"-but she's young. Letting her dream a little isn't going to hurt anyone. Can you at least let her have a little fantasy for a century or two before bogging her down with reality?"

Sighing, Cristlyn said, "Fine. If it keeps her from screaming, whatever."

"Cristlyn ..." Sighing, Angela waved her hand at the comm console.

Bethany heard Cristlyn mutter, "Finally" before vanishing from the chamber.

Seeing Angela's expression fall, Bethany said, "She's a little high-strung. Living in Wukice must be stressful."

"I know. Still, she's been so distant since we stopped Kikrieeg. I've tried talking to her about it, but she just blows me off."

"Me too." Bethany admitted. "I guess I can't blame her for being upset, considering how close he came to succeeding. Still, it's over now. She's fine, Sammy's fine, we're all fine." She paused and added, "Thanks to you and Ethan."

Angela gave her daughter a hug. "I'm just glad you're all safe, sweetie." Stepping back, she turned to Alaina and said, "I hear you're going into the hotel business."

"What? Me? Uh ... I mean, it's not a business, business." She toyed with her fingers, a sure sign that she was nervous. "Sometimes, people walking along the road need a break, and who needs a tent, right? It's not like I charge them or anything. I'm just trying to-"

"Alaina!" Angela said, her voice raised not in anger but amusement. "It's okay. I'm glad you're helping people. I know it must be lonely out there, so far from any of the Wenapaj settlements. If you'd like, I might be able to put in a word with some of the travel agencies in Wenapaj."

"You don't have to do that." Alaina said. "I mean, thanks for the offer, but I'm sure the people will come pouring in soon. Speaking of, I'd better get back to work on my new sign."

Alaina gave Angela a peck on the cheek before vanishing.

Angela let out a sigh, a concerned look on her face.

"It's okay, mother." Jocelyn said, "She just wants to make it on her own, and knowing her, I'm sure she'll get there one day. Maybe not with that sign, but she'll get there eventually."

"I know." Smiling again, Angela asked, "And how is your search for an Inheritor going?"

"Fine." Jocelyn said just a bit too quickly. "I mean, I'm reviewing possible candidates. It's an important decision."

"It is important." Angela said, "And Creator knows I want the best for you. Still, remember that you're not necessarily looking for perfection."

"That's right." Bethany said, trying to be helpful. "I mean, you're just looking for an Inheritor. It's not like you're gonna marry the guy or gal."

Jocelyn's face went red. Very red. "Um, right. Well, I guess I'd better be on my way. Goodbye mother."

She hugged Angela before turning to Bethany and giving her a hug as well. "Goodbye Bethany. We should talk again sometime ... perhaps without Cristlyn next time."

"Sure." Bethany said. After Jocelyn vanished, she let out a sigh.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Angela asked, a concerned look on her face. "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, everything's going perfect." Bethany said. "Jimmy and Terra are expecting again."

"Twins?"

"Too early to say. Smokes has finally stopped blowing up my labs, Mick and Jenna are doing great work cultivating the new gardens, and we got the instability with the Minuet Tower Portal figured out. Everything's working just great."

She tried to turn away, but Angela just appeared in front of her and gently put a hand on her cheek. "I'm not speaking of the Saybaro. I want to know if you are okay."

"Fine. I'm fine." Bethany said just a little too quickly.

Angela gave her a knowing look. After a few moments, Bethany sighed and said, "I'm listless. Everything's going well ... too well. I feel like there's nothing left for me to take care of, and it's driving me crazy."

Angela said nothing as Bethany continued, "I need ... something! Some project to give me purpose! I ..."

Bethany stopped. Angela was listening intently to her, not a trace of surprise on her face.

"You ... you knew this would happen?"

"I've been expecting it, yes. Ever since Mick left her last evolution pod. She was your big project, your sole purpose of being, and now she's all grown up. I can't help but notice that she's been spending almost all of her time with Jenna lately."

"I ..." Bethany let out a sigh and sat down against the railing surrounding her mother's core. "Yes, they have. They don't think I've noticed, but I've seen them together late at night, whispering to each other in the shadows. They think I'll be angry."

"Are you?"

"Of course not!" Bethany said. "Jenna's a wonderful woman and a great core unit, and they're always so happy when they're together. It's just ... "

"Yes?"

Bethany looked at Angela, unable to contain it any longer. "They're talking about leaving. Sometimes it's Ircandesta, sometimes it's the Cleftan region. Mom, what if they leave? I spent my whole life keeping Mick safe. Without her, what is there for me to do?"

She didn't resist as Angela guided her projection into a comforting embrace. Bethany never bothered programming her hologram to cry, something she found herself regretting as she rested in her mother's arms.

"I felt the same way when I had to let each of you go, sweetie." She murmured, smoothing Bethany's hair. "It hurts, I know. Every time, it felt a little worse. When you all went into hibernation, it was the worst feeling I've ever experienced. I didn't know if I'd ever see any of my dear sweet daughters again."

She made Bethany look up into her smiling face. "Mick may not stay at the Saybaro forever, but she'll always be a part of you, even if she never returns. Just as you helped her grow and develop, so too did she change you. That's something that you'll never lose."

Bethany smiled and hugged Angela tightly. "Thanks, Mom."

"It's nothing, sweetie."

They sat there for a few long moments before the comm alert sounded. Angela glanced at the panel and frowned.

"Mother?" Bethany asked, following Angela's gaze.

"I'd better take that." Angela said, slipping away from Bethany. "I hate to send you away, but-"

"It's okay." Bethany said, rising to her feet. "I should probably get back anyway."

They shared one final hug before Bethany transferred herself back to the Saybaro.


	4. Emergency Protocols

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Sammy goes missing, Cristlyn and Bethany dig deep into her files and uncover her secret sanctuary.

It was two months before Bethany heard from her sisters again. She'd taken to making new training course for young Tifa. The young fional had her parent's knack for tearing through the courses like they were nothing. Jimmy and Terra weren't letting her on the combat courses just yet, so Bethany thought it'd be a treat to build a few new courses set in the district Jimmy called home after his parents died. The streets of Rimstak were full of natural obstacles and parkour challenges the young fional would no doubt enjoy. Her brother was a little more somber. Although he did well on the training courses, he spent more and more time with Minuet and Smokes honing his magical talents. Jimmy and Terra were very proud of both of them, as was Bethany.

She was just putting a few finishing touches on a track she called 'The Roseway Run' when she felt the tug of the comm alert. Her lips twitching slightly at the interruption, Bethany transferred her consciousness to the core room.

The call was from Cristlyn. Pursing her lips, Bethany reminded herself that despite Cristlyn's attitude during their last meeting, she was still family. In the very least, Bethany should see what Cristlyn wanted.

Her hologram appeared in the Central Core room, Cristlyn's following a few moments after, a wild look in her eyes.

Bethany barely had time to open her mouth before Cristlyn said, "I can't find Sammy."

Panic flooded through Bethany's programming. She immediately sent a communication to the Naidyr facility requesting access and was dismayed when the automated responder answered, indicating the facility's CIC was busy.

Sammy's core was functional however, so Bethany quickly transferred part of herself to the Naidyr facility. Appearing in Sammy's Central Core with Cristlyn following shortly after, Bethany quickly interfaced with the control matrix and sent a generalized request for the local CIC.

"She didn't answer me either." Cristlyn said, "I thought she mighta been pissed at me, but she didn't respond to emergency codes either. She's gotta be here, though right? I mean, everything's still running, and it's not like she can just walk out of herself."

"She's likely hiding in an isolated partition." Bethany said. "I'll start looking through all the local storage and Weave access points." Bethany said, "Just to be safe, you should go ahead and call Mom and let her know what's happening."

Cristlyn looked queasy at this suggestion. "Yeah, I was kinda hopin' that maybe we wouldn't have to involve Angela in this."

"Why not? You know close she is with Sammy! We need to ..." Bethany stopped, a sudden realization coming to her. Narrowing her eyes at Cristlyn, she asked, "What did you tell Sammy?"

"Nothing!" Cristlyn said, raising her hands defensively. "I mean, I might have sent her a few Weave links to studies of magical interaction with artificial beings, but I just thought it might cheer her up."

"Cheer her up? How?"

"Well, Gineran Magi-tek is essentially a blending of technology and magic. There's some evidence of repeated use of magi-tek items imbuing the user. The research is still pretty early on, monitoring stream-flux and the like, but his early results seem to suggest a high probability that-"

"Cristlyn."

Sighing, Cristlyn said, "Look, it might be possible, all right? I thought that'd make her happy."

"How did she respond?"

"I don't know. I was in the middle of building a prop airship when I stumbled across the articles and forwarded them to her. That's why I came here; I wanted to see what she thought about it, only-"

"-she's gone." Bethany sighed and said, "Fine, but we should at least grab Jocelyn and Alaina to help us."

"Yeah, okay." Cristlyn said, nodding. "I'll call 'em while you start looking."

It was strange to be moving through a strange facility. Bio-forms always focused on the superficial, and as such always thought the rooms and corridors all looked the same. To a CIC, however, the differences are massive. The level of lighting, the subtle difference in the corridors, the safety features designed to limit access to the Central Core, and even the small impurities in the materials used to build … well, everything. All these differences made the facilities look and feel completely different to a Glyche.

To give it a more bio-form-friendly description, going through another CIC's facility was like wearing someone else's clothes. Even if everything fits okay, it just feels uncomfortable.

Samantha's data was scattered about with a few token attempts at organization. Bethany found it difficult to find anything, but couldn't help but smile as she recognized tell-tale signs of her sister in every database. To Sammy, however, everything was exactly where she wanted it.

Most of the data was observational: video and audio-feeds recorded in the Center of Knowledge above the facility. Magic lessons, mostly, but Bethany noted her youngest sister seemed curious about cybernetics and the creation of artificial life as well.

She paused as she felt Jocelyn's presence within the system. Sending her sister a quick hello and brief update on the search, Bethany moved to a seemingly innocuous data node, and suddenly found herself in a virtual world interface.

Her hologram stood at a beach, staring at a windmill that stood at the top of a distant seaside cliff. From her vantage point, she could see a long sandy trail running along the side of the beach and winding up the side of the cliff before reaching the windmill. It was a very nice recreation, but she wasn't sure if the location was real or something Sammy came up with on her own. A lighthouse would make more sense given the location.

Bethany was so focused on the windmill that she didn't notice Jocelyn until she bumped into her.

"Oh." Bethany said, her eyes wide. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine, Beth. You heading to the windmill too?"

"It seems the most logical place to check." Bethany said, returning her gaze to the distant structure.

"Unless it's a giant in disguise."

Bethany chuckled. Seeing Jocelyn's surprised look, Bethany said, "Jimmy's been reading 'Don Quixote' to Tifa and Fei."

"Is that appropriate for children their age?"

"Hey, he's the father. I'm sure he wouldn't read them something he thought inappropriate."

By the time they reached the windmill, Alaina had arrived as well and was hurrying along the path to catch up with them. It was just as well; Sammy had heavy encryption on the door.

"Hey, Jocy. Hey, Beth." Alaina said as she drew near. "Find Sammy yet?"

"I think so." Bethany said, "Just give me a sec, and …"

There was a loud click. The door handle turned on its own before the door itself swung open, revealing the inside of the windmill. Much larger on the inside (which isn't so unusual considering it was all simulated), there was no sign of the machinery necessary to turn the windmill, nor any of the usual mill equipment one might expect to see. There were, however, drawings. They hung on every wall, they were taped to the sides of the spiraling staircase that led to the top of the windmill, they even covered the floor. Each picture showed a different landscape, some not even from Vinta, some not even in existence as far as Bethany knew.

"Wow." Bethany said, glancing from a windswept plain to a city of clouds perched on the top of a giant mushroom.

"You think Sammy drew all these?" Jocelyn asked, reaching for a picture of a moonlit forest. The moment her fingers brushed against the pages, a small tremor ran through the windmill.

She quickly snatched her hand back. "What was that?" She asked, looking around worriedly.

"I don't know." Bethany glanced at the door and frowned. There was light coming from the crack beneath the door earlier, but now it looked completely dark. "I think …"

She walked past her sisters and opened the door. As she suspected, the windmill was now surrounded by forest of tall trees. Unlike the smooth trunks of the chronoan trees, however, these were gnarled and twisting trees whose limbs came together in a dense tangle of wood and leaves save for a few paths that lead up into the trees. In the distance, a tree even larger than the mightiest chronoan stood, its branches covered with a civilization's worth of small structures and lights.

"Whoa. Good job, Sammy." Jocelyn whispered as Alaina and Bethany stared out the door, their jaws hanging.

"So the paintings change the landscapes with the lighthouse being the central point." Bethany said once she could tear her gaze away from the sight before her. "But why? What's the purpose?"

"Maybe she just wants something more to look at than the gray walls of the facility." Alaina said, a wistful look in her eye.

They continued staring until Bethany shook her head and said, "C'mon. We still need to find Sammy."

"How about up there?" Jocelyn asked. "She may be in the upper chamber."

"We should check before leaving anyway." With a final glance at the woods, Bethany shut the door. The three sisters hurried up the stairs, eventually coming to a single door marked, "Keep Out."

"Keep out?" Alaina asked, giving Jocelyn a curious look. "How many people does she expect to make it this far into her systems?"

"Shh!" Bethany held a finger to her lips. "Listen."

They did so. After a few moments, the sound of a young child humming to herself could be heard beyond the door.

"Thank the Creator." Bethany said as her sisters breathed sighs of relief. Opening a communication channel, she said, "Cristlyn, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear." Cristlyn said, now standing right behind Bethany.

Bethany jumped and turned to her sister with a look of annoyance. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry. You find something?"

"Yeah, Sammy. She's just in the room there."

"Really? That's a load off my mind." Before anyone could stop her, Cristlyn threw open the door and strolled inside.

The inside of the chamber was surprisingly simple: a desk, a chair, and crayons all over the place. They weren't just simple wax, though; Bethany could see the incredible complexity hidden by the simplistic appearance. These were the tools Sammy used to create the landscapes, capable of great acts of simulated destruction or creation as she saw fit.

Sammy herself was sitting on the chair, her legs not quite reaching the floor. She stared at her sisters, her mouth open and a single orange crayon in her hand.

"There you are, squirt!" Cristlyn said, strolling over to the table. "You had us worried there! I've been trying to contact you for weeks!"

Sammy's eyes were wide as Cristlyn peered over her shoulder. "Ah, doing a little drawing, huh? I saw your little pictures downstairs."

Bethany saw Sammy's lower lip begin to tremble and realized there was about to be a problem. "Uh, Crissy, maybe now that we know she's safe we should go."

"What? We just got here! Come take a look at the uh …" Cristlyn peered at the image for a moment before saying, "Thing she's drawing."

Alaina started forward, but Beth and Jocelyn caught her and held her back.

Bethany said, "We really should go."

"Nah, it's cool. Hang on, you got the ears on the tigreth all wrong." To the horror of everyone else, Cristlyn picked up a crayon and started drawing on the same sheet as Sammy.

Bethany winced and tried to sever her audio interface. It didn't work.

"GET OUT!" Sammy screamed at Cristlyn. "GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!"

After seeing Cristlyn stand there for a few moments, her face a mask of incomprehension and the little CIC's growing anger, Bethany hurried forward, grabbed her arm, and pulled Cristlyn out of the room.

"We're sor-" Bethany said.

"GET OUT!"

"Right, getting out. Sorry." Bethany quickly shut the door and hurried down the stairs, Cristlyn's arm still in her grasp.

"Hey! Watch it!" Cristlyn said, trying in vain to free herself. Sammy's shrieks could still be heard as they tried to reach a point where they could get back to the normal parts of the Naidyr facility's infrastructure.

They were almost out of the lighthouse when the shrieking changed. Bethany stopped to listen, her eyes going back to the upper chamber.

"Hear that?"

"Bethany, I'm sure Ethan heard that, and he's in orbit."

"No, she's calling someone."

They all made the same realization moments before feeling Angela's presence in the Naidyr network."

"Great. It's 'Mom'." Jocelyn said, rubbing her forehead. "Nice going, Cristlyn. This is what, twice in as many months?"

"Hey, we were worried!" Cristlyn pulled her arm out of Bethany's grasp.

"It was her special place, Cristlyn." Jocelyn said. "How would you like it if someone just strolled into the one place you feel safest?"

"Well, if it was that important, why didn't she encrypt this place?"

"She did." Alaina said. "Bethany's the one who broke through the encryption."

Everyone turned to look at Bethany.

"But she was … I mean, we were …" Bethany sighed and said, "Fine. I'll go talk to her."


	5. Mum's Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Samantha's screams go unanswered, Bethany streams to Ronisgald to contact Angela.

The room at the top of the windmill was impossible to enter now that Samantha was on alert; there's the normal level of encryption one places over an area when they want to keep it private, and the insanely intricate encryption one places over an area after finding someone in said private area. Sammy was no doubt still adding more even after Bethany returned to her own central core, where her sisters were waiting for her.

"Still won't budge, huh?" Cristlyn said, her hologram leaning against the railing around Bethany's core.

"Can you blame her?" Jocelyn said. "I'd probably be the same way if someone breached my sanctuary."

To Bethany's surprise, Alaina and Cristlyn both nodded at this.

"You all have sanctuaries?" Bethany asked.

"Don't you?" Alaina said, giving her sister a puzzled look. "Everyone needs a little place of our own."

"Yeah, can't spend every moment just monitoring the corridors." Cristlyn said with a chuckle. "Most of it's automated anyway. The skrievers let us know when our attention is needed."

"Right." Bethany said, trying her best to not sound as embarrassed as she felt. "Sorry."

The truth was, it had never occurred to her to build a sanctuary within her facility's digital infrastructure. It seemed strange now that she thought about it. Why hadn't she created a little world for herself? Fear of someone finding out? No, she was completely open with her friends, especially her Inheritor. Too much time to create? Oh, please. She'd been in operation longer than most of her sisters. No, when it came down to it, her focus had been totally on the creation and improvement of Mick. Thinking about her own needs seemed ... selfish. Was that wrong?

Most rational beings would think that artificial intelligences like the CICs would have a better grasp on the concept of time and its passing. In this case, however, most rational beings would be wrong. When an intelligence ceases to be a mass of clever programming and becomes a personality, it can trick itself just as any bio-form. As such, the minutes that passed while Bethany considered the concept of sanctuaries seemed quite short to her, but dragged on for ages in the perception of her sisters as they awaited Angela's arrival.

Eventually, even Bethany broke away from her thoughts long enough to realize that far too much time had passed. If Angela was upset with them after speaking with Sammy, she would've been there in moments.

"Mom seems oddly ... delayed." said Bethany, a note of her concern passing to her voice.

"Tell me about it." Cristlyn said. "Usually she drops everything when it's Sammy crying."

Jocelyn frowned at her sister. "Well, she's probably busy. She does have all of Ronisgald to look after."

"Yeah, like that's stopped her before." Cristlyn said with a snort.

Alaina was looking worried now. "Maybe we should go check on her."

"For what?" Cristlyn said, her hologram turning to that of her sisters even as Bethany sent a communication request to Angela. "This is Angela we're talking about. She's been functional since the time of the original corruption. She's got all Ronisgald and half the Eternian Star looking after her well-being. What could possibly have happened to her?"

"She's not answering." Bethany said, drawing looks of worry and alarm from the holographic representations of her sisters.

"It's probably nothing." Cristlyn said, quickly recovering. "I mean, I thought the same thing when Sammy wasn't responding, and look how that turned out. It's probably just Ethan screwing around with the data stream again."

"No." Bethany said, shaking her head. "The message was received by her facility. She simply isn't answering it."

This brought a moment of silence and more looks of worry.

"Mom always answers, even when she's busy." Jocelyn said, "We should check it out."

Alaina nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I mean, just in case. If we just stumble in on her, I'm sure she'll understand, right?"

"Indeed. She's our mother." Jocelyn nodded at Bethany. "Go ahead and activate the emergency override.

Bethany's eyes widened. "What? Me? Why me?"

"Well," Cristlyn said, "You're already in trouble for breaking into Sammy's windmill."

Glaring at her sister, Bethany said, "Yes, because you were freaking out."

"Don't shift the blame. It's irresponsible." Cristlyn said, a smirk on her projected face.

Shaking her head, Bethany activated the emergency connection protocol. To her horror, it didn't connect.

No doubt seeing her worried face, Jocelyn asked, "What's wrong?"

"The emergency connection protocol's not working." Bethany said. "No rejection or anything. It's like the command is stuck in a buffer."

They stared at each other for a few moments, uncertain as how to proceed. They were bound to their facilities, and their skrievers could only go so far before they lost connection to their home facilities and ran out of battery power.

"Hang on." Jocelyn said, "Yaevin station can bypass the protocols and establish a firm connection."

Looking at Cristlyn, she said, "We need Ethan."

Cristlyn's face fell. "Are you sure? I mean, we don't really know if there's a-"

"Cristlyn, for Creator's Sake, Mom might be in trouble!" Alaina said, her projection glitching slightly because of her heightened emotions. "Just call him already!"

"Sighing, Cristlyn closed her eyes and tapped the side of her head. "Calling Ethan. CIC Ethan, are you there?"

The projection of a boy of twelve appeared in Bethany's Central Core, already sitting on one of the consoles. Most CICs were women, as some ancient study done by the bio-from Glyche found that people were more comfortable around the fairer sex. If Ethan's behavior was any indication, it was a good call. In his short time as a functioning CIC, Ethan had already earned quite the reputation as a prankster. While as careful as any CIC at keeping those living under his watch safe, he nevertheless subjected his Inheritor and the other residents of the Space Station to many practical jokes. Angela had spoken with him on several occasions. It was rumored among the CICs that she had gone as far as altering his personality, a move of desperation for any CIC, though Bethany truly doubted Angela would've gone that far.

Still, he did seem to care about the station inhabitants, and never let anyone on his station die or get seriously wounded. Any threat to his people were dealt with swiftly and decisively, and in more recent years, He had toned down his sense of humor to a more acceptable level. Some burnt fingers, an occasional stuck door, and his shenanigans with personnel ID badges were tame pranks as compared to his earlier exploits; his original favorite joke had been throwing people in the airlock and pretending he was about to vent them out into space. No, the people of the station were happy to have Ethan acting like a juvenile if it meant he wasn't acting as an outright sadist, and viewed their CIC as a playful protector.

As for his interaction with his sisters, well ... he was the only boy in a family of sisters. When not trying to prank them, he typically kept to himself.

"S'up." He said, legs swinging. "Wow. Having a party without me?"

"We can't get in touch with Angela." Cristlyn said, her tone crisp. "We need you to-"

"Woah, woah, woah!" Ethan hopped off the console and put his hands on his hips, seriousness replacing his playful expression. "Somethin's up with mom?"

Rolling her eyes, Cristlyn said, "We need you to patch us in remotely."

"Why? Something wrong with the-"

"Just do it, Ethan!"

Ethan shrugged. "Fine. Who's going?"

"I will." Bethany said. "Just don't scatter me across the planet, okay? I don't want to explain all this to CIC Tempkas over in the Cleftan Region."

"Picky picky." Shaking his head, Ethan said, "Hold on to your circuits. I'll have you there in a flash."

Being transferred through the satellite was a far different experience that the inter-continental transfer Bethany and her sisters usually used. Moving between Wenapaj facilities was a near-instantaneous process. Streaming from the satellite felt like being squeezed through a narrow tube. Her thoughts always seemed to be lagging just a bit, and she had a strange feeling of disassociation that was hard to put into words. Still, Yaevin was able to keep a fairly impressive transfer rate which kept her from feeling downright uncomfortable.

She expected Angela to greet her immediately. The satellite connection was by no means subtle, and Angela had long since developed a reputation for being extremely sensitive to any entity, digital or otherwise, that poked into her business. Angela should've honed in on her in an instant ... but she didn't. There was a brief security scan followed by a very basic Glyche encryption protocol, but after that, Bethany found herself alone in one of Ronisgald's data buffers. The Ronisgald system recognized her as a friendly CIC and allowed her access to the Glyche facility immediately.

The facility had an empty feel to it, though that might have just been nostalgia. Angela had rebuilt the Ronisgald facility to the exact specifications of her original installation in Rimstak, prior to the Devastation. Everything looked and felt exactly as it had when Bethany first came online. If she shut out the parts of the network extending into the underground districts of Ronisgald, she could almost imagine herself as a young program still wandering around her mom's facility learning her basic functions.

She couldn't resist the urge to pull out that ancient projection: the little girl with cat-ears she had once been. She zoomed through the hallways as she had back then, her feet floating about a foot from the ground. As she flew, she sent out pings in every system she passed: medical, residential, tech-labs, research, environmental, and even the custodian systems. She checked everything for some sign of her mother.

Ironically, it was in the central core where she stumbled across something: a heavily encrypted partition. She almost missed it, as the partition was hidden among the system files of the command matrix left in Angela's place. The encryption was quite complex, so Bethany set a bit of herself aside as a decryption process to go ahead and start working at unlocking the partition while she continued her search.

She was still checking through the data in the central core when she was bombarded by communications requests. At first, she thought it was her sisters trying to get her to open the way for them, but the requests were local. That meant there were bio-forms in the Central Core requesting communication, not from Angela but from the foreign CIC they were detecting.

Bethany linked herself into the holo-projectors and projected a simplified image of herself: physically about the same, but with slightly lower resolution and a fair amount of translucency to minimize data usage. She found herself surrounded by Galden technicians, most of whom had decidedly worried looks on their faces.

"You're not Angela." Said one of the engineers.

"No." Bethany said, "I'm CIC Bethany of the Saybaro facility in Wenapaj."

This seemed to bring some of the technicians some small amount of relief. The woman who first spoke to Bethany said, "Good to meet you, Miss Bethany. I'm Marsha Glavgos, Gold-Tech."

The technicians bobbed their heads in polite greeting. Bethany returned the gesture out of politeness. In truth, the presence of a Gold-Tech, the highest grade of technician produced by the Centers of Knowledge, within Angela's facility carried with it an unpleasant connotation.

Coughing, the Gold-Tech Glavgos said, "I'm guessing you came here to speak with Angela?"

"Yes." Bethany said. "Is there something wrong?"

"We were hoping you might be able to tell us." The engineer said.

Terror, muted by the limited space in the data stream, trickled through her consciousness. "I don't understand. Where is Angela?"

Gold-Tech Glavgos looked to her techs for a few moments before letting out a sigh. "We don't know."


	6. Mom-napped!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bethany has some bad news to break to her sisters.

It took Bethany a few moments to fully process this information, partially due to the shock of the Gold-Tech's statement and her limited connection. "Well, where could she have gone? She was programmed into the core itself. Are you sure she's not just in hibernation?"

"Checked that first, Ma'am. Ran a full sweep of Ronisgald. She's not in any network in the entire country."

"I don't understand." Bethany said, "How is that possible?"

"Well," Marsha said, tipping her hat back to scratch the top of her head. "You're here."

"Not completely." Bethany told her. "I'm simply streaming my consciousness from Wenapaj in real-time. If the connection was broken, I'd still be in my facility. There's no way to separate a CIC from her home facility."

"Beggin' your pardon, Ma'am, but there must be some way."

"Right, right." Bethany said, rubbing her forehead. She was having a hard time thinking. At first, she thought it was because of the logical error of Angela simply being gone, but she soon realized it was something else. The squeezing sensation of the satellite transmission was getting tighter as someone, presumably one of her sisters, tried to join Bethany.

"No!" Bethany said, clutching her head. It didn't hurt, but the feeling of her stream of consciousness being pulled taught like a bowstring was not pleasant.

Cristlyn appeared a moment later, already wincing. "Bethany, what's going ... ugh. Okay, may be this wasn't such a good idea."

"Mom's gone, Crissy." Bethany said once she was able to process her sister's words. "They're not sure where, but she's not in Ronisgald. I can't think like this, Crissy! Head back to your facility and I'll fill you in when-"

The straining intensified as another CIC consciousness raced through the satellite feed. Bethany and Cristlyn's projections flickered under the strain of the transfer as Jocelyn appeared.

"Ow!" Crissy said, "Jocy, get out of here! There's not enough bandwidth for three CICs!"

"There's not enough for two!" Bethany said, "Wait for me back at the Saybaro!"

"Why? What's going on?" Jocy said. "Cristlyn, go back!"

"You go back!" Cristlyn countered. "I was here before you!"

One of the techs working on the Ronisgald control panels said, "Data stream's too crowded. They're losing cohesion."

The tech was right. Bethany could feel a lag in her reaction time. It felt like her mind was bogged down in quicksand. Trying to make any action seemed to take ages, as most of the data stream was being used by Cristlyn and Jocelyn arguing.

"Gold-Tech ... cut communications." Bethany said, straining to maintain mental cohesion. "Contact later."

Nodding at her subordinate, Gold-Tech Marsha said, "Look, we'll keep investigating from this end. Whatever took her doesn't seem to be affecting any of the Ronisgald systems, so we're safe for the time being. If you find out anything about Angela, send a communication to the-"

Another consciousness was racing to their location. The other CICs groaned as Alaina appeared. Bethany barely had time to register the look of concern on Alaina's hologram turning to confusion before the satellite connection was thankfully cut.

Bethany opened her eyes to find herself back in her own Central Core. Ethan was still there, working on the console.

"Ah, there you are." He said. "For the record, I tried to stop them. 'One CIC's enough for a stream' I said. 'Maybe two for a while.' Of course, Cristlyn decides that means she can go right ahead, Jocelyn immediately wants to argue, and where Jocy goes, Alaina goes too."

"It's fine." Bethany said, shaking her head. "There isn't much we can do from this side anyway."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Mom's gone."

Ethan stared at her dumbfounded for a few moments before finally managing a single explosive, "WHAT?"

"CIC Angela isn't present in any Ronisgald system." Bethany told him. "Even the Gold-Techs are mystified."

"Not just the techs." Ethan said, a puzzled look on his face. "How in Nocturnes does that even happen?"

"I don't know." Bethany said. "We need more information. I need to have a better look around her facility."

"Well, unless you've got a way to move the Saybaro to Ronisgald, there's not much you can do about it." Ethan rubbed his eyes for a moment and said, "I'll see what I can dig up from Yaevin. In the meantime, you should let Jimmy know what's going on. Maybe he can bring a few skrievers over there for you. Y'know, give you at least some eyes in Ronisgald."

"Not a bad idea." Bethany paused, detecting some remaining latency in her system despite the fact she was in her facility. "Uh, Ethan? I'm still getting some lag. "

"Yeah, I had to yank you outta there kinda quick. Some of your data probably just got a little fragmented. It should clear up, but you might want to go ahead and run a full system check once you've got a moment. I'll stop by the other facilities to make sure Jocy, Crissy, and Lainy-bug do the same when they're back online."

"They're not functional?" Bethany asked.

"Only had time to pull one of you, and that was you. Benefits of being my favorite sister." He said with a grin. "The others will need a full restart to recover."

Shaking his head, Ethan said, "Well, I'm heading back to the satellite to start looking. I'll let you know if I find anything, Beth."

"Thanks, Ethan." She gave him a brief hug. He gave at token sign of resistance before accepting it.

"Okay, okay." He said, pulling away. "I can only handle so much mushy stuff. Stay in touch, okay?"

Once Ethan was gone, Bethany sent out a priority message to the men and women her Inheritor considered a part of his inner circle. As she waited for their responses, she ran through scenarios in her mind that would explain Angela being missing.

The closest situation of which she could think was when CIC Fei-jan was transferred from King Iniagus's palace to her core. He was successfully removed, but lost quite a bit of his old data in the process. There simply hadn't been enough space in her data storage at the time to save all of him before the Central Core imploded. The aftermath left him a bit absent-minded whenever his processes tried to call up on data that no longer existed, but he'd recovered a great deal since then, especially after Wenapaj's Gold-techs managed to retrieve a sizeable portion of his data from the remains of his old core.

That, at least, gave her some comfort. Angela's core was undamaged; if whoever took her left her fragmented, she would suffer little to no damage to her personality when returned. Still, what would happen if the storage device used to carry her active personality were to be damaged? What if Angela was damaged? What if she was so badly damaged that she had to be reinitialized? The very notion filled Bethany with horror. Everything that Angela was would be gone. Millennia of Glyche knowledge would be gone, as would their mother's memory of Bethany, her sisters, and Ethan. Her mother would be as good as dead, with another bearing her name and face.

"Bethany?"

Bethany looked up to see Terra and Jimmy entering her central core. They seemed oddly tall until Bethany realized Ethan had apparently switched her hologram to her younger, cat-eared self.

"Jimmy! Terra!" Bethany said, quickly switching back to her usual hologram. "Thank you for coming so quickly."

"The others are on the way." Jimmy said, tightening his sword belt. "What's the situation?"

"Angela's missing." Bethany said. "I don't know how, or who did it, but she's not anywhere in Ronisgald."

"What?" This came not from Jimmy or Terra, but from Mick. She was standing in the entrance of the Central Core, Jenna close behind her. She hurried to Bethany's side. "That's not possible."

"I know." Bethany said, "But it's the truth. The techs there can't make heads or tails of it, and neither can I. I was hoping I could ask one of you to go to Ronisgald with a few of my skrievers so I can help in the search."

"I'll go." Mick said immediately. "She's my grandmother, after all."

"I'll go to." Jenna said, but Mick shook her head.

"The garden-"

"Hang the garden." Jenna's tone softened. "You may need my help."

Bethany caught Jimmy and Terra exchanging a small smile. Jenna and Mick's budding relationship had been the subject of gossip around the Saybaro for some time, so much so that Bethany was surprised that neither Mick nor Jenna seemed to notice. Perhaps they were worried about what Bethany would say. Perhaps it was time to make her feelings on the matter clear.

"Jenna's right." Bethany said, drawing a surprised glance from both Jenna and Mick. "Until we know what's going on, I'd feel better if you were to stay with my daughter, Jenna." She rested her holographic hand on Jenna's shoulder. "And I know you would too."

"T-thank you, Bethany." Jenna said, her cheeks tinged gold. "We'll report back as soon as we're there."

"Thank you." Bethany sent out a request for skriever assistance. In a matter of moments, four came scurrying her way.

Cancelling the request before more arrived, Bethany said, "Thank you for volunteering for this."

"Not a problem." They chittered in a chorus of clicking and beeps. "Always glad to help."

"Thank you Marenstein, Beravor, Lennafin and ... Squiggie?"

The fourth skriever chirped in an affirmative manner. Smiling Bethany said, "Please go with my daughter and her friend to Ronisgald and transmit back to me, okay?"

"You got it!" They moved to Jenna and Mick, who each picked up two.

"We'll be there before tomorrow morning." Mick paused and said, "Don't worry, Mom. We'll find her, I'm sure of it."

"Thank you." Bethany said. "Just ... take care of yourself. Both of you. Okay?"

"We will."

Bethany, Terra, and Jimmy watched as the two core units departed.

"Should we have gone with them?" Jimmy asked, glancing worriedly at Bethany.

Terra shook her head. "What could we do that they couldn't? This isn't another dragon, Jimmy. Er, right, Beth?"

"Highly unlikely." She said, smiling despite her worry for Angela. "I was intending to send them alone anyway. You have your own children to care for, after all, not to mention one or more on the way."

"Ah." Jimmy said as his wife led him away. "I'm a little disappointed; I kinda wanted to add a third dragon to my accomplishments."

"You'd still be at one!" Terra said with a laugh. "None of the others were real anyway!"

Bethany allowed herself a brief chuckle, only to have interrupted by a comm alert from Alaina. She barely managed to project before the transmission shut down, so it was no surprise that she was back online faster than her sisters and eager for answers.

"I wish I had a few answers to give." Bethany said as she prepared to take the call.

 


	7. A Risky Proposition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bethany and her sisters (including one she didn't even know she had) decide the time to wait is over.

Bethany sat in the partially finished simulation room. The legs of her projection swayed gently back and forth as she sat in the shade of a massive blue-capped mushroom. Samantha was there as well, her small head resting on Bethany's stomach as the young CIC stared up at the simulated sky.

Five months had passed without a single trace of Angela. Bethany's skrievers had gone over every inch of the entire country (aided by Angela's entire skriever compliment, of course), and not one sign of her kidnapper had been uncovered. They couldn't even nail down the last time she'd been in the core, as the records had been scrubbed. Whoever did it had been an expert on the Glyche, and had erased every single trace of his or her presence. The basic control matrix put into place was clearly of Glyche design as well, and simulated every function necessary to keep Ronisgald running smoothly. Most of the country hadn't even noticed, as the techs wisely decided not to report the issue to the public.

Bethany envied them. Everything was fine as far as they knew. It was only CICs like Bethany and her sisters that seemed to be effected. Bethany had communicated with every other functional CIC on the planet. To her surprise, some of them seemed completely nonplussed by Angela's disappearance. Others seemed merely curious, more interested in the how than the who.

Bethany's sisters and brother made up for their more distant cousins' lack of interest, however. All six went over the data from the Ronisgald facility again and again as the weeks passed, each trying their best to find some clue that everyone else overlooked. Skrievers pored over every inch of the Central Hub repeatedly, their vigilance unrewarded by any new information.

With no leads, however, soon the investigation slowed to a halt. Gold-Techs went back to their normal duties, the skrievers returned their focus on cleaning and repair, and the CIC sisters relented, leaving only a single consciousness in Angela's facility at a given time.

Mick and Jenna returned to the Saybaro after a considerable absence. Bethany could tell they'd had a good trip despite their attempts to maintain composure in front of her. She couldn't blame them; together, they may have interacted with Angela three or four times total. They were concerned, but as the months passed they turned their attention back to their garden project. They'd done everything they could, so Bethany was glad to give them their space.

Bethany toyed with Samantha's hair as her youngest sister let out a sigh. "You think she's ever gonna come back?"

"We'll find her, Sammy." Bethany said.

"But when? I miss Momma."

"So do I." Bethany admitted. Sighing, she said, "I just ... I wish I could've gone there. To Ronisgald, I mean. The skrievers are thorough, I'm sure, but I'd just feel better if I could've verified it myself."

"But how?" Sammy asked, twisting to look into her sister's face. "We can't leave our facilities."

"I don't know." Sighing again, Bethany said, "Usually people come to me asking questions. Now that I need to ask the questions, the person I'd ask is gone."

Sammy's blue eyes suddenly went wide. Sitting up, she said, "I know! I know, I know, I know!"

"What?" Bethany said, alarmed at her sister's sudden intensity. "What do you know!"

"Be right back!" Sammy vanished.

Bethany sat there for a few moments in silence before Sammy reappeared, a doll in her hands. Wearing a tiny green and gray-striped T-shirt, the doll was instantly recognizable, not just by Bethany but by every Glyche.

"Narrator Number One?" Bethany asked, taking the proffered doll. "You mean ... ask the Elsewhere Incorporate?"

"Why not?" Sammy said, "Uncle Glen's always helped us out, right?"

Bethany stared uncertainly at the doll for a few moments. It was true that the history of the Glyche on Vinta was liberally peppered with mention of the enigmatic Dreamer known as 'One'. The doll, a souvenir picked up by Jimmy during his adventures, held a mysterious connection with the Dreamer that allowed him to possess it when he was needed. When it came down to it, though, Bethany had no idea how to call him. Usually One just kind of appeared when trouble started.

At the continued prodding of her sister, Bethany looked into the doll's brown button eyes and said, "Um, hello? Mister One? If you can hear me, we could use your help."

There was no response.

"Try again." Sammy said.

Sighing, Bethany said, "Narrator Number One? We need your help. Angela's gone missing, and we have no clue where she went. Please, if you can hear me, say something."

There was still no response. Seeing Sammy's face fall, Bethany gave the little CIC a friendly pat on the head. "It was a good idea, Sammy."

She teleported to the bedroom where Jimmy kept the doll. The room was filled with a few odds and ends from the Dreamer himself, mostly souvenirs from assignments he and his wife would regularly take while staying at the Saybaro. It had been over a year since the last time they'd stayed at the Saybaro, but that was hardly cause for alarm. They were both Dreamers, after all, and from the snippets of conversation she'd caught, their daughter was fast showing signs of following in her parent's footsteps.

She set the doll on of the pillows of the bed. Giving it a brief smile, she turned to Sammy and said, "We'll think of something, I'm sure of it. We just need to give it a little more-"

She stopped talking and frowned. "One moment. I'm getting another communication request. Probably one of our dear sisters."

"If it's Crissy, tell her I'm still mad at her."

Chuckling, Bethany transferred herself back to Central Control. When she interfaced with the comm controls, however, she was surprised to discover that she couldn't identify the origin of the communication.

Sammy appeared shorty after Bethany. "Who is it?"

"I ... I don't know." Bethany said. "I don't recognize the flux pattern. It's definitely a CIC, but I can't determine the home facility."

After a few moments of hesitation, Bethany answered the call.

A hologram of a young woman appeared in Bethany's Central Core. Her appearance didn't match anyone in any database Bethany could access, but there was definitely something familiar about her. Her holographic matrix was insanely intricate. If it weren't for the fact that she had the same signal as the incoming call, Bethany would've thought the visitor to be real.

"Miss Bethany?" The woman asked with a kind smile. "Hi. I'm CIC Rebecca."

"CIC Rebecca?" Bethany's eyes widened. "You're the CIC in the Elsewhere Mansion!"

"Well, I'm in the mansion." Rebecca said, blushing. "I'm not over the whole thing, though ... just One's little corner."

"I was hoping to speak with One, actually." Bethany said, feeling awkward. While One had mentioned her a few times back during Jimmy's adventures, Bethany knew nothing about her mysterious sister from Earth. She wasn't even sure how they could be talking, as the Elsewhere was supposedly in a pocket dimension cut off from conventional time and space.

Rebecca sighed. "They're off doing ... whatever it is Dreamers do. I only find out about it in passing, and then only if they happen to need my help. Stubborn knucklehead insists on doing everything himself, and his wife's no better. Oh well. At least Figment listens to me."

Shaking her head, Rebecca said, "I caught your message from the doll, so I came as soon as I could. What's the deal with Mom?"

"She ... wait, you know Angela?"

"Yeah, she made me ages ago. Y'know how some Glyche stayed and some went to Rimstak? Well, I was with the group that went to Earth. They're gone, of course; millennia of inter-breeding with humanity has pretty much made them nothing more than a few trace DNA fragments and the occasional gray eyes." She paused for a moment and said, "Still, Angela's my mother, and if she's vanished, I want in on the investigation."

"Yay! New sister!" Sammy threw her arms around Rebecca and hugged her tight. Rebecca patted the little CIC's head, a bemused look on her face.

"Well, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but we're reached a complete dead end." Bethany said, raising her hands for a data transfer.

Rebecca pressed her hands against Bethany's. Once Bethany completed the data transfer, Rebecca said, "You've been pretty thorough. The problem's likely distance. There's only so much a remote search can unveil. You'll need to investigate it yourself."

"Some of those skrievers were mine." Bethany said.

"I'm not talking about skrievers, I'm talking about you, and the rest of our sisters. We need to go there and check it out."

Bethany stared at Rebecca for a few moments. "What are you talking about? We can't just leave our facilities! We don't even known how Angela was taken from hers!"

"I know." Rebecca rubbed her forehead. "I've heard of some artificial intelligences having android avatars."

"Yes, but they still rely on facilities for power. We wouldn't make it half-way to Ronisgald before burning through the most robust power cells. Even standard power core cells wouldn't last with all the power we'd need to transmit at that range."

"Then maybe it's time we make our own solution. I've got access to the Elsewhere's computer database, not to mention a ton of notes from One and Alan, and you've got information on Glyche technology that wasn't even around when Angela was programming me. Surely we can figure out something."

"Are you allowed to go digging through the Elsewhere database like that?" Bethany asked. The last thing they needed was a bunch of offended Dreamers.

Rebecca snorted. "I'm the one who keeps it running, thank you very much. Besides, I'm not a member of the Elsewhere Incorporate. I'm Glyche. If we're gonna do this, we'll need all the help we can get."

"Okay." Bethany said, a few sparks of hope popping in her emotional programming. "I'll call my other sisters."

It didn't take long for Cristlyn, Jocelyn, and Alaina to arrive. After a few moments of greeting their sister from Earth, all CICs present joined in a mass data transfer. On a normal occasion, this would've been an impressive collection of data. With access to the Elsewhere's Information Database, however, it was enough to make even a synthetic mind reel with the enormity of it all ... and it was only a tiny fraction of the information gathered by the Elsewhere Incorporate.

"How about these?" Alaina said, bringing up schematics from an ancient Elsewhere storage file. The included image was of a heavy robotic construct with handle-like protrusions on its head.

"Cybernetic, not synthetic." Cristlyn brought up a different image, this of a very fancy-looking artificial woman. "How about these?"

"No way to insert pre-existing intelligence. They're born the moment they're turned on." Rachel tapped her thumb against her lips before bringing up an image Bethany knew all too well.

"That's a standard core unit."

"I know." Rebecca said. "But there was another one in here ... yes, here it is."

A nearly-identical image appeared. The difference in this one was the ultra-dense crystallic core. Easily ten times the complexity of a standard heartstone, the schematic showed it to be easily configurable, and capable of storing an immense quantity of data. Since the core was crystallic, any mage or ready supply of stream energy could be used to keep it charged. That was impressive enough, but the schematic also indicated an additional core could be installed in the head of the unit to allow for even more data storage.

"It's still not enough." Bethany said, feeling a little depressed. "Even with the extra space, we just wouldn't be able to fit our entire databanks into one unit."

"Well, do we need our entire databanks?" Rebecca asked, scratching her chin. "I mean, a lot of it's just administrative stuff, right? Hang on, we need a test subject."

Setting the prototype image aside, Rebecca dug in the files for a moment before producing an image of a standard CIC data storage map. With a start, Bethany realized it was her own.

"Okay," Rebecca said, "Let's take out facility operations. That can be routed into a separate control matrix, and let's face it; you won't need that if you're in a body. Don't need the holographic matrix, so we can cut that out."

"But ... we could overlay the holograms over the bodies." Alaina said. "So they don't look so ... robot-y."

Cristlyn gave her a scathing look. "We'll worry about slipping in vanity equipment and programming when Mom's safe and sound."

"Uh, right." Rebecca said. "Let's see, multiple simulation configurations for combat training. Nope, definitely don't need any of these."

"Hey!" Bethany said, feeling indignant at having her mind dissected, "That's my simulation data for Fei-jan and Tifa!"

"Which you won't be needing for the investigation." Rebecca said.

"But ... I worked on that for months!"

Rolling her eyes, Rebecca said, "We're not deleting anything, Beth. We're just putting it in storage in the home facility. Everyone clear on that? If we're going to be transferring into these, we'll need extra space to adjust and evolve."

They all nodded, Bethany reluctantly.

Nodding, Rebecca said, "Okay, and if we take out the old project information, the future building schematics for the Saybaro, and data stored by the inhabitants of the Saybaro ... whabam!"

They looked at the projection. To the surprise of everyone, there was now easily enough space for Bethany's remaining data. In fact, the combined programming of the personality and intelligence of the CIC that was Bethany took up less than half of the core storage space on the prototype unit.

"See that?" Rebecca said with a smile. "Plenty of room to grow from there! If we did that with you, we can do that with everyone here!"

"I don't believe it." Jocelyn breathed, her eyes alight with excitement. "We ... we could do this! We could download into these prototype core units and actually leave our facilities!"

"Oh, wow!" Alaina said, positively beaming. "We could go to Ronisgald! We could go wherever!"

Even Bethany had to admit the idea of no longer being confined to the Saybaro filled her with excitement. "Are any of these units in production?"

"Quite a few are actually operational." Cristlyn said. Her expression fell. "Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh?" Bethany asked.

Cristlyn brought up the location file. They were in luck, a fresh run of the prototype cores had recently been completed, fixing many of the small errors from the first run. They were even in Wenapaj, in the Kinria Facility. Unfortunately, all the new cores were registered for the Reformation project, a Glyche initiative headlined by the Kinria's facility's CIC to provide new bodies for the recently recovered cores of the Glyche core units irreparably damaged while fighting against the Corruption.

"Who wants to be the one to ask Elizabeth?" Cristlyn asked, raising an eyebrow at her sisters.


	8. Ain't Got No Body

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bethany tries and fails to get the core unit bodies for her and her sisters. Fortunately, Lizzie's husband has a big heart. Unfortunately, that makes Bethany a test subject.

Lizzie wasn't a bad CIC by any means. She was actually one of the more sensitive personalities among the Wenapaj sisters. In a way, that was exactly the problem; she cared about everyone with a level of empathy even her husband, a grumpy experimental core unit by the name of Benzing, found a bit excessive at times.

"I'm sorry." Elizabeth said to Bethany, her hologram's face showing sincere regret. "I want to help, really I do, but I can't just make these poor souls wait for the slim chance that you might be able to find Mother."

"This is Angela we're talking about here!" Cristlyn said, anger clear on her simulated face. "It's not like those old power cores are going anywhere!"

"Some of them have waited thousands of years to be restored." Elizabeth said, a slight edge to her tone making it clear she did not approve of the dismissive way in which her sister spoke of the fallen core units. "Isn't that long enough? They sacrificed themselves to save us, and we owe it to them to restore their shells as soon as possible. I should think you of all people would appreciate that."

"Ugh. I knew this was a waste of time." Cristlyn stood up and immediately cut her projection, leaving Elizabeth and Bethany alone in the Kinria Facility central core.

"I should go too." Bethany said, unable to keep her disappointment from her voice.

"Beth, wait." Elizabeth sighed, her holographic fingers rubbing her eyes. "Look, I'm not ignorant of what this could mean to CICs. The allure of freedom is very tempting."

"I don't care about that, not while Angela's missing." Bethany told her sister.

"I don't doubt you." Lizzie said, "But can you say the same for the others? Will Jocelyn follow you to Ronisgald? Will Alaina help you search for Angela? What about Cristlyn? As for Bethany, it's all well and good to claim disassociation with the Elsewhere Incorporate, but the truth is, she is a part of them whether she admits it or not. Who knows what her goal ultimately is?"

It was a good point, but that only served to annoy Bethany. "So because a few of our sisters might ... might ... have ulterior motives, we're all just condemned to sit in our facilities and wait while Angel's kidnappers do Creator knows what to her?"

"Of course not." Elizabeth said, her tone infuriatingly patient. "The moment you suggested this, I made sure to put you all on the list ... all of us, myself included. We will get a chance to test this transference Rebecca suggests, and I hope as much as any of you that it will work."

"How long will that take?" Bethany asked, already knowing she wouldn't like the answer.

"Well, we had a few kinks to work out with the prototypes that I've addressed with a limited run of the updated core units. Now that they're out of testing, I've already started producing more blanks. Finding crystallic's an issue, but provided the crystallic condensers keep working, we should have the core units rehoused and be ready for Rebecca's experiment in ..." She paused, hazel eyes shining as she ran a quick calculation. "... at most, five years, seven months, four days ... oh."

"Oh." Bethany said as Elizabeth's hologram blushed. "By that, any remaining trace of Angela and her kidnappers will likely be long gone."

"I know it's not what you wanted," Elizabeth said, simulated cheeks still red, "but at least it's something, right?"

Bethany let out a sigh. Elizabeth truly meant no harm, and as much as Bethany hated to admit it, Lizzie's reasoning was sound. Some of the core units on the implantation list had fought against the original Corruption, and very much deserved a new shell so they could finally live the life their creators wanted for them. Others were newer, having sacrificed themselves to stop the recent corruption, quite literally giving their lives to save the then-infected Cristlyn.

"Thank you, Elizabeth." Bethany said. "You're right, of course. I just hope the others can see that before doing anything rash."

"Rash?' Elizabeth said, looking alarmed.

Seeing her sister's worried expression, Bethany tried to tell Lizzie that she was just joking, but found that she couldn't, not honestly, anyway. Giving her sister a weak smile, Bethany quickly transferred herself back to the Saybaro.

Rebecca and Cristlyn were waiting for her.

"Okay," Rebecca said, "Here's the plan. Cristlyn's already got a few of her skrievers in the Kinria facility with maskers. I've called in a few favors and have a few able-bodied people standing by near her secret entrance. I'll have the skrievers cut her scanners and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Bethany said, raising her hands. "What are you talking about? Sabotaging our sister? Seriously?"

"Hey, Angela needs our help!" Cristlyn said. "We gotta do what it takes, right?"

Bethany stared at her sister with a mixture of disbelief and horror. "So we're going to cripple Lizzie's systems and just steal what we want? By the Creator, Cristlyn, I want to find Mom more than anybody, but-"

"Do you?" Cristlyn asked, "Do you really want to save her? 'Cause if you do, then I gotta ask why you're against this. Lizzie's got the core units, and you know our need is more urgent than those old cores. They're in hibernation, and can't tell if it's been a minute or a millennium. The longer we wait, the colder the trail gets. We can do this, Beth."

After a few moments of silence, Bethany asked, "Where are Alaina and Jocelyn?"

"Oh." Cristlyn said, waving a hand dismissively. "They're looking into what would be needed to build our own prototypes. It'll take at least a year to construct a working stream compressor capable of compacting crystallic to the degree we'll need."

"Elizabeth mentioned having to work out a few kinks in the first prototypes." Bethany said. "If she's using the baseline core unit model, it might signify an issue with the core itself we'd also have to resolve."

"All the more reason to take a few of her new ones!" Cristlyn said. "She's worked out the kinks, so it'll be safer for us!"

Bethany looked at her sister's eager face uncertainly. Elizabeth's words were coming back to her; was Cristlyn really worried about Angela, or was she just eager for her freedom from Wukice?

"No." Bethany said far more firmly than she felt. "We're not stealing the core units, not from our own sister."

"But-"

"I said no, Cristlyn! Don't make me send her a warning."

An ugly look fell over Cristlyn's face. "Fine. I guess we know how much you really care about Angela."

Bethany held her stern expression until Cristlyn's projection vanished. Sighing, she looked at Rebecca. "Would it do any good to try and stop you?"

"Probably not." Rebecca conceded as she leaned against the rail next to Bethany. "But you don't have to. I won't go against your wishes."

"Why not?" Bethany asked.

"Well, let's just say I wasn't one-hundred percent comfortable with Cristlyn's plan. Oh, I'm always up for some mischief, but you're right to question her priorities."

"I didn't-"

"Oh yes you did. Maybe not out loud, but I saw the look in your eyes. Cristlyn wants this just a bit too badly, especially seeing as she's the only one of us who abjectly refuses to call Angela 'Mom'."

"And you?" Bethany asked. "Why were you considering going along with her?"

Rebecca let out a sigh. "The Elsewhere does strange things to synthetics. To everyone who calls it home, to be honest, but especially to us. Despite all the ways I've changed, ways even I never thought possible, I'm still confined to one little area within the Elsewhere. I've tried expanding, but with the way the Elsewhere keeps shifting ..."

She let out an embarrassed chuckle. "Well, it's not all bad. I mean, my facility's pretty big, and both One and Luck are by regularly. It wasn't until I heard you calling from the doll that I started thinking about it again."

Bethany gave her sister's hand a squeeze. "Lizzie did say that she's put us down on her list. It'll be a bit over five years, but it will happen."

Rebecca smiled. "I can wait five years. The shock on One's face will be worth the wait alone."

"Well, damn." Said a voice that made Bethany and Rebecca freeze in surprise. "I guess I'll just go drag these back to the Kinria Facility."

Bethany and Rebecca turned to see a core unit with a surly expression. Definite gender identified him as at least third evolution, full skin covering marked him as far along as the fifth, but his solid amber eyes showed him to have not reached his sixth evolution as of yet. Outfitted with Universal Builder's Tools, Tek-boots, and an impulse harness, he was carrying six first-gen core unit bodies on a long pole held over his shoulder, the android bodies strung up like coats on a rack.

Flicking a lock of white hair out of his eyes, he said, "I'm kidding of course. These buggers are heavy, and I'm sure as hell not carrying them all the way back."

"Benzing?" Bethany asked, stunned to find Elizabeth's Inheritor to be the one who acquired the core units. "But Lizzie-"

"Yeah, she's gonna be mad, but I know Angela goin' missin' is botherin' her like mad. She wants to do somethin', but letting you cut in line goes against her sense of morality. Rock and a hard place. Could you get me a rack or somethin'? I don't wanna just leave these on the ground."

"R-right." Bethany mentally glanced through her inventory before finding an old rolling coat rack in one of the Saybaro Mansion closets. There was still a dusty old coat hanging on it when it appeared in the central core.

Rebecca watched Benzing hang the cores on the rack for a few moments before asking, "Isn't she going to be seriously pissed when she finds these missing?"

"Oh, yes." He said, clearly no stranger to what was to come. "And when she asks, you're going to tell her that you only accepted them because I told you she sent them after changing her mind. Yeah, I'll be in the doghouse for a while ... maybe a long while ... but she'll forgive me eventually, especially when you and your sisters find and rescue Angela and prove it was the right call."

He paused for a moment after hanging the last core on the rack. "So please, for the love of the Creator, make sure you find her, okay? Lizzie's probably gonna banish me to the windmills, and I can only stand Ginger's prattling so long before I tear off my own head."

"We will." Bethany said. "Thank you, Benzing."

"Bah, don't mention it. Lizzie has her morals, I have mine."

Bethany and Rebecca waited until Benzing departed before letting out squeals of delight.

"By the Creator!" Bethany said as she circled the prototype core units. "I can't believe our luck!"

"Yeah! I'll have to think of something nice to send Benzing ... and Lizzie, of course." Rebecca ran her holographic hand over a core unit's chest. Glancing at Bethany, she said, "Well, I guess our next move is clear."

"I'll let the others know." Bethany started to activate her comm systems, only for Rebecca to swiftly block her.

"Look." Rebecca said, "To be honest, I don't know if this is gonna work. I mean, it's all well and good to plan, but no one's ever tried this before. I don't want to get their hopes up just in case something goes wrong."

"What are you saying?" Bethany asked.

"We should test out the process once, just to be sure. Then if it works ... when it works, we can give them the good news. C'mon."

She vanished, the prototype cores vanishing with her. Bethany hesitated for a moment before following her to the only place she could be heading: the main tech lab.

The Womb lay in the center of the room. Once the same pod held Mick as Bethany ran scan after scan to ensure her child was safe and incorruptible. It had received many upgrades since Mick had left its embrace, usually from Mick herself prior to an evolutionary period. The Womb held Mick time and time again as she slowly evolved into her current form, now nearly indistinguishable from a Galden in all ways save her gray skin.

One of the core units was already in the Womb when Bethany appeared in the lab. Fei was there as well, a curious look on his face.

"Evenin', Beth." He said, smiling at her. "What are you two up to, anyway?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Rebecca said, her grin dazzling. "We're about to put Beth into her new body!"

"Me?" Bethany said, startled. "But I thought-"

"Well of course it's you! We've already gone through paring all the unnecessary data. Besides, if something does go wrong ... which it won't, I'm sure, but if it does, I'm sure you'll agree that my access to Elsewhere assets would probably come in handy when I ... er, if I have to piece you back together."

"Piece her back together?" Fei said, his smile fading.

Rebecca waved him aside. "Oh, don't worry about it. You should be getting ready, anyway."

"Ready for ... hey, wait just a-"

Fei vanished, his last look one of surprise. Bethany could feel his intelligence moving in her Central Core, not entirely of its own volition.

"Don't worry." Rebecca said, taking her arm and pulling her toward the Womb. "I'm just prepping him to take precedence over the Saybaro central core after we transfer you out."

"B-but we'll need Jimmy's approval to-"

"No we don't. We only need Inheritor approval if we're creating a new CIC or transferring an already established CIC into the Saybaro. Fortunately, Fei's already in your central core. It's perfect! He'll be able to take over basic operations immediately, making the transition seamless."

Bethany wasn't sure how to respond to that. Unfortunately, Rebecca apparently took this as a sign of agreement.

"Good." She said, rubbing her hands together, "Now don't you worry. I'll have you in there in no time."

Turning to the Womb, she said, "Okay, let's do this nice and slow. First thing's first, you should focus yourself into this pod. Might as well cut the hologram too; I'll have to organize your personality files, and I'd rather not risk any mistakes."

Bethany struggled to think of a reason, but quickly realized every excuse essentially came down to her own trepidation. With Angela in danger, that simply wasn't a good enough reason to delay.

With a final sigh, Bethany deactivated her hologram and focused the brunt of her intelligence into the pod. She couldn't cut herself completely from the facility due to the nature of her programming, but presumably Rebecca had some way around this.

She felt a wave of panic when the first tendril that bound her consciousness to the Saybaro was severed. She'd known everything that happened in the Saybaro Facility for three-thousand years, even while asleep, but now it was like part of her world went black.

"Relax." She heard Rebecca say through the Tech Lab intercom. "This might feel a bit weird, but don't you worry your little head, sis. It'll make separating your emotional subroutines trickier."

Bethany tried to remain calm as more of her connections to the Saybaro were cut: her video feeds, her sensor arrays, her temperature gauges and climate controls ... system by system, she felt herself separate from the facility. She could only watch as her awareness of the Saybaro was slowly reduced. As her readings of Jimmy and Terra, both sitting at the tree in front of the mansion, faded into old data, she found herself wishing she'd insisted on speaking with them before agreeing to the transfer.

Finally, there was only one connection left: her connection with the central core itself.

"Okay, Bethany." Rebecca said, "I probably should've mentioned this before, but you'll have to cut the final connection yourself."

"What?!"

"You have to relinquish control of the Saybaro, and no, I can't do it for you. Security protocols, you know. Now look, it goes without saying I haven't actually done this before, so I haven't the slightest idea how this is going to feel to you. Maybe it'll be like taking a nap, maybe you'll just be out and back like a snap, or maybe it'll feel like you're slowly being pulled a part and put back together. Ugh. Hope it's not that last one. That sounds unpleasant. Anyway, whatever happens, don't you worry. I promise you you'll get through this. Just relax, cut the final connection, and I'll see you on the other side."

Unable to respond, Bethany's thoughts focused on her connection with the central core ... her only connection to anything resembling the universe.

The concept of death is hard for an artificial intelligence, even one as sophisticated as a CIC. It's hard for a consciousness to perceive of itself being 'off', even in the case of sleep. At that moment, however, Bethany faced the possibility that what she viewed as her consciousness might never cease. She might fall into the darkness and remain falling there forever.

She could visualize herself hanging over the endless void, that single shining thread the only thing keeping her from falling eternally. She thought of Angela, her smiling face the first thing Bethany had ever seen. She thought of her sisters and her brother, of Jimmy and Terra and her friends at the Saybaro, and of her dear friend, Fei. She thought of everything she knew about Wenapaj, Vinta, and the Universe. Then, after an eternity of doubt, she finally let go and fell into nothingness.

 


	9. Reborn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bethany awakens to find her world smaller ... and so much larger.

Small fragments of data floated in the darkness that surrounded Bethany. She long since stopped noticing them, though how long it had been she couldn't say; time had no meaning in the strange void that encompassed her existance. How long had it been? Minutes? Days? Years? Centuries?

There had been darkness during her two-thousand year hibernation, but this was somehow worse; even in her suspended state, she still felt connected to teh Saybaro, to what remained of the mansion's infrastructure, to Mick and the Womb. There was nothing this time; no connection to anything. She had been consigned to oblivion.

And then she felt it. It was so slight, so subtle that she was sure it was just another passing data fragment until it happened again: a slight twitch from what she eventually realized was her right. Another followed, this one to her left. Her consciousness grasped at the sensations, eager for stimuli. A few twitches later, and she realized that she could control it ... control them. They were surprisingly intricate; like a whole series of twitches under her control, their positions to her right and left, but all slightly apart, like the keys of a woodwind instrument.

Joints, she realized; the twitches were actually the movement of joints, small joints very close together ... finger joints. She had fingers! The realization was as shocking as it was exciting. As she focused her thoughts on the sensation, she could make out each of her digits, four on each hand. She tapped them in rhythm, thumb to pinky.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

Delighted at the sensation the movements brought, she did it again with her other hand.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

The awareness of other joints soon followed; her toes and feet, her wrists, her arms, her back, and finally her neck. She slowly tested each joint, each sensation bringing with it a surge of excitement. She tapped her fingers again, noting that it made little sound. She surmised that she was on some sort of cushioned surface before realizing that she could hear.

Her mind awash with the sensations coming from her body, she tried her best to stay calm and focus on her sight. She willed her eyes to open.

"C'mon." A voice whispered that she soon realized was her own. "Open your eyes. Open ... open ..."

A long straight crack of light suddenly bisected the darkness. She automatically drew in a sharp breath at the sudden brightness, the sensation of air entering her body ironically so shocking that her eyes flew open the rest of the way.

As her eyes adjusted to the lighting of the room, she found herself staring up at the glass lid of the womb. She slowly raised her hand to the lid and froze; her hand hung in her vision, segmented sections of the flexible gray 'skin' covering her body's inner working. She gazed at her hand, flexing her fingers and twisting it around both to ensure its functionality and to get a good look at it. Something about it seemed off, but the surge of new sensations made her soon forget about it.

She pressed her hand to the pod door. It slid open at her touch, the Womb tilting to the side so she could exit. With great care, she lifted one of her slender legs and set it on the floor of the Tech Lab.

She shivered as the sensation of cold metal registered, not so much uncomfortable as it was new. She tried to take another step, only to immediately stumble. Staggering forward, she managed to catch herself on one of the monitors surrounding the Womb.

"Okay." She said, giving herself a few moments to figure out the basics of balance. "Let's try that again."

She tenatively stepped away from the Womb, careful to ensure she wouldn't topple over before taking another step. When she managed to reach the wall without falling, she couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh my." She said, the sensations brought by her laughter making her laugh even more. "This is ... wow."

It was amazing. When her connections tot he facility were being cut, she was worried that it would be like that as well; a complete lack of sensation, but it was completely opposite; her mind was filled with sensations, so much so that it was nearly ovewhelming. The sensors and the cameras and the microphones of the Saybaro seemed like poor comparisons to the experience of seeing, of touching, of hearing.

"It's incredible." She said, managing a slightly awkward spin. "I can't believe how wonderful this feels! Thank you so much, Rebecca!"

Rebecca wasn't there, nor was Smokes.

"Huh." She said, "I guess the process took longer than she expected. Still, she should still be in the facility mainframe.

Taking each step with more and more confidence, Bethany walked to the nearest facility computer panel. Using the touch-screen controls was a strange experience; as a CIC, she normally would just have to think of what she wanted to do, and it would happen (were it within her capabilities, of course). While she was sure she made the proper query, her search turned up nothing; no Rebecca, nor any other CIC.

A little off-put, she decided to head to her Central Core ... her old Central Core to be sure. If nothing else, she could communicate with her sisters and let them know the good news about the prototype core units.

The facility seemed strangely empty as she walked through the cooridors. It had never exactly been bustling, even back in the days when it was filled with bio-form Glyche, but it surprised her when she failed to bump into a single other person by the time she reached the Hub room. She queried the consoles at the Hub, and was surprised to discover most of the life-readings at the Saybaro were in the third floor of the mansion, where they were reconstructing the old ballroom.

Curiosity over this strange meeting won out over her desire to talk to her sisters. Turning from the Central Core, she instead headed toward the mansion proper.

As she stepped into the storeroom Jimmy had long ago converted into his larder, she was overcome with new sensations: smells. She walked around the larder, momentarily diverted by the strange world of scents. It was a very bizarre experience to her, yet she soon found herself forming mental opinions of good and bad smells. She had no idea what caused her to form these opinions; scent data had certainly not been a part of her programming before. Perhaps Rebecca had a hand in this?

The most tantelizing scents, however, came from the stairway leading to the mansion. She found herself compelled as she climbed the stairs and eventually ended up in the lobby of the Saybaro Mansion.

As the grandfather clock slid shut over the larder entrance, Bethany continued to follow the smell until she reached the kitchen. A veritable feast lay waiting for her as she passed through the doors, creating a cocktail of smells that finally gave name to the sensation that led her there; hunger.

She eyed the roast turkey and the ham for a moment before it occurred to her she was about to eat the first thing she'd ever eat. She should make it something special; something incredible. Glancing around, she eventually saw the cake; it was a beautiful affair, with swirled vanilla and chocolate icing concealing undoubtedly delicions spongey goodness beneath. Before she could stop herself, she plucked a small plate from a stack sitting at one of the tables and cut herself a generous slice. Taking a fork as well, she carefully cut a small mouth-sized piece from her helping and slowly slid it into her mouth.

(Author's note; Bethany was kind enough to supply a very detailed description on this experience that I will not share here for two reasons; the first being that the description is a bit ... provacative in nature. I don't know if she was deliberately messing with me, but phrases like, "A shudder ran through me as the supple cake flesh slid down my throat," and, "The delicate sweetness of the icing slowly spread across every taste bud, sending waves of pleasure coursing through every inch of my body." were by far the tamest, and the rest would have come questionably close to requiring this book to have an older rating. The other reason is that her very detailed description is, as one might expect from any thorough artificial intelligence, VERY detailed, and is over thirty-seven pages long. For simplicity's sake, let's just say that she really really liked the cake. -Alan T. Tryth)

Muffled laughter echoing from the lobby broke through her cake-induced reverie. She followed the sound, plate, cake, and fork still in hand. The laughter had died down by the time she reached the lobby, but she could make out conversation coming from above. She climbed the stairs, pausing every now and then to savor another bite of the delicious confectionary.

The conversation was definitely coming from the ball-room, but Bethany couldn't help but notice that there were no sounds of construction; just conversation and the occasional laugh. Intuiged, she pushed through the door while taking another bite of cake.

The Ball-room was a massive and magnificent chamber. The Glyche never had many occasions to use it back in the day, so when Jimmy mentioned that he was planning on rebuilding it, Bethany had been quick to suggest other uses of the space: a bigger library, an inside garden (the room was big enough to hold an actual tree, after all), an observatory. She wasn't offended when he stuck with the ballroom, however; it was part of her job to present options, and he thanked her for doing it. If anything, she liked the idea of her mansion being restored to it's original state. Still, the massive stained glass windows, the mosiac floor, the crystal chandelier … it would take months, to fully repair them all.

That was why when she turned and saw the ballroom completely finished and intact, the light of the moons shining through the stained glass, she was momentarily stunned. The design of the floor and the stained glass was different, of course, but everything was completely restored.

Seeing it all so perfect, so beautiful made her forget about the life-signs, the laughter (and almost but not quite about the cake), even how long she'd been gone. She stepped out onto the dance floor, her eyes on the ceiling; the original ball room had a plain ceiling, but Jimmy had upped the ante; the ceiling was now a massive mural of people she immediately recognized. Jimmy, Terra, and all of their friends. The mural was of their adventures, from the kidnapping of Princess Sera to the restoration of Yaevin. In the center was a sleeping woman, her body curled on a silver circle surrounded by several gray rings. It took her a few minutes to realize it was her; her holographic form lying dormant within her core.

The colors seemed so vibrant in her new eyes they almost seemed to dance in her vision. The sheer enormity of it was mind-boggling; when had he done all this? Just how long had she been asleep?

She stuck her arms out, plate, cake, and fork perfectly balanced, and spun around. The people she knew and loved spun in her vision as she stared up at the ceiling and laughed.

"Oh, Jimmy." She said, "This is wonderful! If you were here, I'd give you and everyone else a great big hug!"

Bethany lowered her gaze and immediately stopped; she'd been so focused on the stained glass and the mural that she hadn't realized there were in fact people in the room. The dance floor was clear, but tables had been laid out near the walls. There were in fact dozens of people in the room, every last one of them now staring at her. She recognized them all; Ell and Minnie, Terra's brother Terry and his family, Smokes, Sera and Cid … every resident and friend of the Saybaro she could recall.

Jimmy was there, as were Fei, Tifa. Terra sat beside her husband as well, a long-eared infant suckling at her breast. The infant was the only one without a shocked expression. Next to them sat Narrator Number One and Luck, their daughter, Figment, sitting between them.

It wasn't Jimmy who spoke, however; it was Mick. She sat next to Jenna at the same table, both of them dressed in traditional Glyche clothing that was pretty, if a bit old-fashioned. She slowly approached Bethany, a stunned look on her face.

"Mom." Mick said slowly, as though she couldn't believe her eyes. "You're awake."

"I'll get Rebecca." One said before disappearing through a door that appeared behind him.

It suddenly struck Bethany that she wasn't wearing any clothing. Her body lacked the necessary anatomical details that would require clothes for modesty, but was still clearly female … enough so that she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with so many people looking at her. She wrapped an arm over her chest, the experience of blushing coming to her most unpleasantly.

Jimmy hurried toward her, pulling off his black keikogi and wrapping it around Bethany. The traditional garb was long enough to serve as a dress on her.

"Good to see you back with us, Beth." He said as he tied his sash around her waist. "I see you found the wedding cake."

"Wedding?" Bethany looked at Mick and Jenna in their traditional Glyche cloths … traditional Glyche marriage clothes. Mick and Jenna's cheeks immediately went gold.

"We wanted to wait until you woke up," Jenna said, clutching Mick's hand, "but Rebecca said it might take years, or that you might never wake up at all."

"After eight months, I figured we'd waited long enough." Mick said, taking Jenna's hand. "So I proposed. We just had the ceremony an hour ago."

"Eight months?" Bethany said, worry filling her new body. She had guessed it'd been awhile, but nearly a year?

"That's how long you've been under." Rebecca's hologram appeared with a look of great relief on her projected face. "My fault, really; I figured with all the data we collected from various core units that we might be able to transfer to the new bodies and skip a few evolutions at the same time. Turns out the wait time between evolutions isn't so arbitrary after all. Without the programming that naturally develops to handle the new sensory information-"

"Rebecca." Luck said as One slipped through the door and took his seat, the door vanishing moments later.

"Right." Rebecca said, rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry, Bethany. Still, you're up, your about, and hey? What better day than this, huh? Your daughter's wedding!"

Seeing genuine anguish in her daughter-in-law's eyes, Bethany decided to put aside the world of new sensations, the eight missing months, and the fact that she'd been spinning around like a ballerina in front of a crowd with nothing but a slice of cake, and put her arms around Jenna.

"I'm so happy for the both of you, my daughter … and I'm sorry about the cake."

"Hang the cake." Mick said, hugging the two of them. "I married the woman I love and got my mother back on the same day. I couldn't ask for better Christmas presents than this."

When they released, Bethany said, "I guess I should contact my sisters. I mean, if Angela's still missing."

"It's been over a year." Rebecca said gently. "It's your daughters' wedding. We can talk about Mom tomorrow; for now, why not just enjoy the party?"

"Well …" Bethany said, "I suppose … after all this time, one day won't make a difference … and I would like to spend some time with everyone."

A supportive round of applause filled the air, none clapping more loudly than Jimmy.

"In that case," He said, putting an arm around Bethany's shoulders. "Let's get the party started, shall we?"

Whatever uncertainty Bethany would face along the path to finding Angela, she would always remember that first night in her body: Jimmy and Arc taking turns to teach her how to dance, getting to hold little Annie Sakamota as the tiny fional burbled happily, and even enjoying a few more pieces of cake in the presence of the newlyweds. It was while watching Mick and Jenna dance that she found herself laying down on an empty bench. In a matter of moments, she was asleep.


	10. Back on Track

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joined by Cristlyn, Bethany decides it's time to gather her sisters and begin their search. Unfortunately, that means saying goodbye to the Saybaro.

Bethany sat with Terra at the tree that lay between the Saybaro Mansion and Jimmy's bridge. Terra idly wove Bethany's long white hair into a braid while Bethany held little Annie in her lap. Little Annie giggled as Bethany's slim fingers tickled her sides. Bethany cooed at the child, moving closer to rub noses with her. The baby fional squealed, a grin of sublime happiness on her face as she tried to touch Bethany with her small arms.

"She's such a little sweetie." Bethany said, carefully taking Annie's hands. Annie grasped her thumbs and let out another giggle.

"She is." Terra agreed. "Tifa was a little fussy when she was that small, but little Annie always seems to be smiling."

Terra reached a hand around Bethany's side and tickled her daughter's stomach, prompting another squeal of laughter.

Going back to Bethany's voluminous hair, Terra said, "You certainly like your hair long."

Blushing gold, Bethany said, "I like how it feels in the wind. You think I should shorten it?"

"Nah." Terra said, "It looks good on you. Are you gonna keep it white?"

"I'm not sure yet." Bethany said. Her hand touched one of the small plates that monitored and encouraged the growth of her synthetic hair. "What do you think?"

"I'd keep it the way it is." Terra said. Bethany shivered slightly as Terra's fingers brushed her scalp.

"Sorry." Terra said, drawing her hands back.

"No, it's fine." Bethany said, cheeks gold again. "It's still a bit strange. Y'know; feeling things."

Her hand briefly brushed against the silk material of her kimono. When programming her projections, she'd always chosen normal dresses of Glyche make for formality's sake, but when trying on the cloths Jimmy and Terra had bought her as a 'birthday' present, she found herself drawn to the kimono. The strangely complex way the pieces had to be worn, the long and wide sleeves, the softness of the silk against her skin, and the beautiful designs all just struck a special chord with her, no doubt due in part to her Inheritor's fascination with his ancient japanese heritage.

Terra usually preferred her usual mid-riff exposing shirt and short-shorts. With her fur, a kimono would likely be uncomfortably warm. She was wearing a kimono as well that day, however; it was a cool day, and Terra had been kind enough to demonstrate how to wear the Japanese garment. She'd even let Bethany dress Annie in a tiny kimono as well; the baby had laughed as Bethany carefully folded the cloth around her tiny body.

The front door of the mansion opened, revealing Jimmy. He chuckled as he approached. "Wow. I just came out here to say lunch is ready, but you three make me feel severely underdressed."

Giving Bethany's shoulders a final squeeze, Terra rose to her feet and greeted her husband with a warm hug and a kiss.

"It's a good look for you." Jimmy told her, arms around his wife's waist.

"Mmm." She rubbed her nose against his. "Well, maybe I'll wear it again sometime. Tonight, maybe?"

"I'd like that."

Bethany smiled and turned her attention back to Annie as Jimmy and Terra shared a longer kiss.

"So ... food?" Terra said.

"Yup. Nothing super fancy, but I think you'll like it."

"I'm sure I will." Glancing back at Bethany, Terra said, "Are you hungry, Bethany?"

"My energy levels are ..." Blushing, Bethany shook her head. "I'm good at the moment."

Terra approached and relieved Bethany of Annie, the little fional letting out a happy squeal as Terra lifted her in the air.

"I know you're hungry, aren't you, sweetie?" Terra said. Annie pawed at her kimono, hands clenching and unclenching around the thin fabric. Laughing, Terra said, "Patience, Annie; let's go inside first, hmm?"

Bethany smiled at her friends as they entered the Saybaro mansion. It had only been two weeks, but already her live as the facility CIC was beginning to fade. While she no longer had a CIC's omniscience of the facility, experiencing the world in her new form was so much more intense than the simple data feeds she'd processed for centuries.

Bethany lay back against the tree, legs curled under her as she stared out into the cerulean blue of the sky. As she watched the clouds slowly float across her vision, she wondered if somewhere, somehow Angela was able to percieve a similar view. She closed her eyes and pictured Angela's kind and beautiful face as she'd last seen it.

While she had enjoyed her time with Jimmy, Terra, and the other residents of the Saybaro, worry about her mother's fate was beginning to break through the newness of her body. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything she could do until her sisters left their own pods. Rebecca indicated that their installation would be faster now that she knew what mistakes she'd made with Bethany, but she still couldn't provide an accurate timeframe as to when her sisters would be functional.

Something tickled her nose. Her eyes flew open at the unusual situation to see a pair of solid orange eyes staring back at her. She sat up immediately, her forehead hitting that of the core unit standing above her with an audible 'clunk'.

"Oww!" The female core unit said, taking a step back and holding a hand to her head. "Watch it, Beth!"

Ignoring her own slight pain, Bethany looked at the core unit, a fourth evolution model like hers. The blue jeans and purple halter top didn't ring any bells, nor did the short bob ginger hair. The face, however, was definitely familiar.

After a few moments, Bethany said, "Cristlyn?"

Cristlyn's new face grinned. "Ah, so your memory is intact. Rebecca was concerned there might have been some degradation. Nice dress."

"It's a kimono." Bethany said, slowly rising to her feet.

"It would be." Cristlyn said with a laugh. "Still, it looks good on you. Hair's a bit wild, though; long enough for you yet?"

"I haven't settled on a style yet." Bethany said defensively, keenly aware that the tip of the braid was bumping against her backside, the rest of her hair brushing against the back of her thighs.

"Or a color." Cristlyn cocked her head to the side. "Stay with the white; it works."

"Er, thanks." Bethany smoothed her hair over her ears. "How long have you been up and about?"

"Oh, about a week. Had to make sure the last few props were finished before heading here." Putting a hand on her hip, she asked, "So, we're still headin' for Ronisgald, right?"

"I'd like to, yes." Bethany said, "But we still need to wait for the others. I'd like to contact the Ronisgald techs as well, let them know we're coming."

"You haven't called them yet? Since waking up, I mean."

Bethany shook her head. "I've tried, but they haven't gotten back to me yet."

"Huh." Cristlyn said, rubbing her chin. "Sounds like the control matrix running Ronisgald isn't doing so hot. How's it going at the Saybaro?"

"Great." Bethany told her sister. "The control matrix wasn't even necessary; once I was gone, Fei-jan was able to install himself as the primary CIC. He even made me a PIM."

She raised the bracelet-like device covering the back of her hand. Cristlyn smiled. "Already got him giving you jewelry, huh?"

"What?" Bethany said, her cheeks going gold. "It's just a PIM! I mean, I still like to keep in contact with the rest of the facility."

"Uh-huh."

A little flustered, Bethany said, "Have you heard anything from our others?"

"Jocelyn, Alaina, and Sammy?"

"And Rebecca." Bethany said. "She said she wanted to come along as well."

"Yeah, but she's Elsewhere; she'll be along sooner or later. As for our more local sisters, I know Sammy's out, and I think Alaina is as well; I tried calling her before heading here. Not sure on Jocelyn."

"Well, if everyone else is awake, it'd stand to reason she'd be up and around as well."

"Yeah, about that; Rebecca was working on Jocelyn's transfer at the same time as mine; apparently, Jocelyn was giving her some trouble about some data she didn't want to part with. Apparently, she absolutely needed her entire library to come with her."

"Ah." Bethany said, "I see. Maybe we should go check on her?"

"Might not be a bad idea." Cristlyn said. "We should go pick up Samantha first, though."

"What about Alaina?"

Snorting, Cristlyn said, "It's Alaina. If you can't find Alaina at home, check-"

"-check with Jocelyn, right." Bethany said. Glancing down, she noticed that Cristlyn had a backpack with her.

"Huh? Oh, well ... i figured we could head straight from Jocy's place to Ronisgald." Cristlyn said, shouldering the backpack. "Save us some time."

"Right." Bethany said, shaking her head. "Sorry, I just ... well, didn't expect to be going today."

"Might as well get it over and done with, right? Sooner we get to Ronisgald, the sooner we can see about finding Angela."

"Yes ... you're right, of course." Bethany paused and looked back at the Mansion. This was all so sudden; the idea that searching for Angela would mean leaving the Saybaro, actually going away from the only place she'd ever truly knew somehow never fully hit her until that moment.

"What's wrong?" Cristlyn asked as Bethany turned to the Saybaro Mansion.

"Give me a minute, okay? I need to say goodbye to Jimmy and Terra."

"Oh, right. Okay; I'll just be here."

Bethany felt the world slow around her as she walked through the front door and into the mansion. Her eyes took in the entire lobby as she walked toward the kitchen; the sweeping staircases, young Fei and Tifa arguing on the second floor landing, a few parcels sitting by the hat and coatrack that no one ever seemed to use. A few people waved at her as they headed to their own destinations; she waved back, trying to ignore the sudden pang in her core.

Jimmy had Annie on his shoulder, his hand softly patting her back as Bethany walked into the kitchen. Terra, still readjusting her kimono after feeding her daughter, opened her mouth to greet her but fell silent.

"Bethany?' She asked, sash half-tied around her, "Beth, what's wrong?"

Jimmy turned as well, concern on his face. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, trying to think of how to tell them. Sighing, she said, "Jimmy ... Terra ... Cristlyn and I are about to head to Naidyr to get Samantha."

"Oh? They're already up and about? That's great! I'll make sure to make extra around dinnertime to ..." Jimmy paused, realization in his eyes. "You'll be heading out from there, then?"

"Yes." She said, her cheeks going gold. "I mean, we'll be heading to the Guildmaster's Workshop in Rimstak to pick up Jocelyn and Alaina, then head to Ronisgald from there. I know this is sudden, but ... I mean, I'm coming back, after we figure out what happened to Mom. I just wanted to let you know."

Jimmy and Terra traded glances before Terra rose and approached Bethany. Wrapping her arms around her, Terra said, "I hope you find your mother, Angela. We're gonna miss you around here, especially Annie."

Annie let out a small burp at that moment, followed by a small gurgle, her eyes on Bethany. She smiled toothlessly at her and reached forward with her tiny hands.

Jimmy let Bethany take her. "I'll be right back."

When he returned a moment later, he was carrying his old backpack; the one he used before he and Terra were married. "I put together a travel pack for you." He told her. "Travel rations, a bit of rope, a ball of string ... odds and ends that could come in handy for whatever might happen."

"I put some clothes in there as well." Terra said, relieving Bethany of Annie. "Just a few old things of mine that should fit in case you get tired of the kimono."

"Thank you." Beth said she took the backpack. "I appreciate everything you've done for me ... both of you."

"There's one more thing." Jimmy paused and pulled out a sash. It was similar to the obi she wore with her kimono, though hers was simply red; the sash Jimmy offered her was marked images of the Sakamota family crest. She recognized it immediately, as she had been the one who discovered it in an ancient Earth database.

"As far as we're concerned, you're part of the Sakamota family." Jimmy said, carefully removing her red sash before tying the new one in its place. "No matter what happens, the Saybaro will always be your home."

He stepped back a moment to make sure the sash was straight before nodding and giving her a hug. "Take care of yourself, Bethany Sakamota."

Bethany closed her eyes and let her head rest on Jimmy's shoulder. "Thank you, Jimmy ... Terra."

Annie hiccuped, immediately looking puzzled afterwards.

Bethany laughed at this baby fional's expression. "And goodbye to you as well, little one."

Bethany left the mansion and rejoined Cristlyn at the tree.

"Ready?" Cristlyn said, picking up her backpack.

Bethany nodded. "As ready as I can be."

"Good. Now call your boyfriend and see if he can't transfer us to Naidyr; I do not want to have to walk there."

"He's not my boyfriend." Bethany said as she activated her PIM.


	11. Social Studies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bethany and Cristlyn get a taste of life in the Center of Knowledge while they are in Naidyr to pick up Samantha.

The control matrix of the Naidyr facility identified that she was still within range, but couldn't give them a more precise location remotely. Fei-jan promised to drop them off in Samantha's Central Core so they could use the scanning equipment to locate her quickly, yet as the light around them faded, they found themselves standing in a large courtyard filled with topiary animals. A few students lingered in the area, mostly in small groups centered around the benches or the fountain in the center of the courtyard. A massive building lay at the far end, floating towers visible high above.

As this was a school of magic as well as technology, the sudden appearance of two women wasn't particularly noteworthy to those around. Their unusual appearance, however, seemed to be garnering some attention; Bethany spotted a few of the students stealing glances only to quickly look away when they noticed she was watching them as well.

"Huh." Cristlyn said, scratching her head as she considered a topiary gnu, "This ... isn't the facility."

"Definitely not." Bethany said, "We're outside the Center of Knowledge. I recognize it from Jimmy's description."

Cristlyn sighed. "Looks like your boyfriend needs to work on his aim."

"He's not my-"

"Hey! You!" Cristlyn said, her eyes on a student sitting at a nearby bench. "You're a Glyche, right?"

While the student was clothed and previously occupied with reading a book, Bethany was surprised to find Cristlyn was correct; the student was a core unit. The lack of apparent gender indicated it was only at its second evolution at most, and its design was quite old, indicating that while it was likely built around the time of the Corruption, it had only been activated recently.

"Oh, hello!" The core unit said in a vaguely masculine voice, standing and approaching the two sisters. "I'm glad to see another Glyche; I thought there'd be more of us here. How long have you been enrolled?"

"We're not students." Cristlyn said, raising a hand to stem off further questions. "We're here to see our sister."

"Sister?" The core unit said, pushing back his hat. "I haven't seen any other Glyche."

"She's not a core unit ... well, she wasn't anyway. She used to be the CIC of the Naidyr facility."

"Oh, you mean Sammy? I met her, but I didn't realize she was the CIC of the facility under Naidyr. She's a bit young, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she's young. So what?" Cristlyn said, putting her hands on her hips. "How old are you?"

"Cristlyn." Bethany said, putting a hand on her sister's arm. "He's a student, not a prisoner of war; stop interrogating him."

"Aw, I was just ..." Letting out a snort, she said, "Ugh, fine. Sorry, buddy."

"Not a problem." The core said. "You say she used to be a facility CIC?"

"Yes. We were as well; I'm Bethany Sakamota of the Saybaro."

"Truly?" the core unit said, his eyes wide. "It's an honor to meet you, ma'am. Gillcrest Achivva, from the Achivva facility in Ircandesta."

Bethany shook his hand. "A pleasure to meet you."

"Are you a CIC too, miss?" He asked, looking at Cristlyn.

"Yeah. Wukice facility. Crislyn's the name." She held out a hand, which he shook solemnly.

"Must be fun, living around all that movie magic, huh?"

"Meh." She said. "Glad to see the back end of it for awhile. Well, look, it was nice chatting and all, but we're on an important mission right now."

"Oh." Gill said, "Anything I can do to help?"

"Not unless you know where Samantha is. Do you?"

"Well, no, but ..."

"Oh well. Have fun at school." With that, Cristlyn walked toward the main Center building.

"Sorry about her." Bethany said, blushing. "She can be a bit ... direct."

"Bethany!"

"I'm coming!" With final nod at Gill, she hurried after her sister. To her surprise, Gill followed her.

"Mind if I tag along?"

"Don't you have classes or something?" Cristlyn asked, not bothering to look at him.

"Not for another two hours. I've got time, and like I said; I don't see many other Glyche around here."

"Sure, fine, whatever."

Gill looked at Bethany; he didn't have hair (or most facial features, for that matter), but Bethany didn't see any harm in it, so she nodded. Beaming, he jogged until he was beside her and together they followed Cristlyn into the Center of Knowledge Reception area.

Often the first room seen by prospective students, the reception area was a pleasant enough place; there were plenty of chairs and couches for those waiting (invaluable during open enrollment), display cases showing various trophies and plaques displaying the names of exceptional alumni, a few busts on pedastels featuring famous scholars, mages, and technicians.

"Thomas Desygan." Gill said, pointing at a bust. "They put it here a few weeks ago based on an old portrait found in the Jaalus facility."

"Really?" Bethany said, gazing at the man who many acknowledged as the grandfather of the modern Glyche.

Thomas Desygan was one of the bio-form Glyche's best scientists and programmers. It was he who programmed the first functional core unit, he who aided Narrator Number One in stopping the original Corruption, and he who headed the operation that saw the Glyche facilities built in Wenapaj in preperation of what was to come. By all rights, he should have been considered a hero across Vinta, but his legacy mostly remained in Wenapaj.

"Got the nose wrong." Cristlyn said matter-of-factly as they passed the bust.

"It's still a good likeness." Bethany said.

"Yeah, good enough, I suppose." Cristlyn approached the front desk. Bethany was a little worried about this; given her sister's pushy nature, she was sure that should anyone be unfortunately enough to be in line in front of Cristlyn, a scene would soon follow. Fortuantely, there was no one; it was a slow day for the Center, apparently.

The woman at the desk gave Cristlyn a polite smile. "How can I-"

"Where's Samantha?"

The receptionist's smile twtiched ever so slightly. Turning to her computer, she asked, "Last name?"

"No last name. Just Samantha."

Seeing the receptionist's questioning look, Bethany said, "She was the CIC of the facility beneath the center, ma'am. She recently downloaded herself into a core unit, and we were wanting to check up on her to see how she's adjusting."

Her demeanor visibly brightening at Bethany's politeness, the receptionist said. "Ah, thank you. She'll be registered as a core unit, then; that narrows the field quite a bit."

After tapping at her console for a few moments, the receptionist said, "You'll need to see the Seed."

"What?" Cristlyn said, "Why?"

"Because your Glyche, and anything to do with the Glyche goes straight to the Seed." Eyes shifting to Bethany, the receptionist added, "Ma'am."

"That's fine." Bethany said.

"What? No, it's not fine! We shouldn't have to check in with the Seed because we're-"

"It's fine." Bethany said, raising her voice. "After everything that's happened, I think a little caution is justified."

"That wasn't our fault.' Cristlyn said with gilded cheeks.

"I know." Beth said, softening her tone.

Cristlyn stared at her for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Fine. Whatever makes the bio-forms comfortable, I guess."

"I can show them the way." Gill said. "I've got some time."

"I'd appeciate it, Gill." said the receptionist.

Catching Bethany and Cristlyn's curious looks, Gill shrugged and said, "Like I said; there aren't many core units here."

He led them through the doors in the back of the reception hall and onto the main grounds of the center. While the building housed many of the classrooms and labs of the center (the remaining being in the towers that floated above the Center via magic, technology, or a combination of both), the main grounds were home to some outdoor-specific classes such as the druidic arts, weather alteration, herbology, and Magi-zoology. There was still plenty of open room, of course, and some of the less dangerous plantlife was allowed to grow on the grounds, giving the area a very peaceful appearance.

In the center of the main grounds was the Seed's Tower; a somewhat strange but still impressive building, the Seed's tower was built right into the Center's largest greenhouse, and housed many interesting specimens. Since the area was protected from the cold of winter, the plants were allowed to thrive, and were in full bloom as Bethany, Cristlyn, and Gill entered the tower.

They were soon greeted by a woman with skin as brown as fresh dirt, her hair an equally dark green. From the leaves growing in her hair, the rough bark-like patches on her knees and elbows, and the lack of pupils in her brown eyes, Bethany recognized her as a dryad, likely bound to one of the trees in the main grounds.

"Hello." The dryad said, a tenative smile on her face. "What are you looking for?"

"A wizard with a big red mustache." Cristlyn said.

"The Seed?" she said, a little startled by Cristlyn's directness. "He's in his chambers at the top of the tower, but ..."

"Good." Cristlyn immediately headed for the base of the ivory spiral stairwell that led to the tower's upper floors, only to be stop as thick vines that burst from the ground, effectively making the stairs completely impassible.

"The Seed is currently testing a prospective student." The dryad said, hand still raised as the vines continue to twist and wind arount the stair railings. "You can't go up there."

"Oh yeah?" Cristlyn spread her arms and took an impressive leap forward, easily clearing the growth of vines and landing half-way up the first floor stars. She paused to stick her tongue out at the dryad, unaware of the creepers already slipping around her ankles. She tried to take another step, only to fall flat on her face. The vines pulled her down the stairs as she tried in vain to stop both them and her. She eventually managed to get a firm grasp around one of the railing posts near the bottom of the stairwell, and held on tightly as the vine continued tugging at her legs.

"Okay, you've made your point." Bethany said, concerned that Cristlyn would be hurt. "Please, let her go."

The dryad met her gaze for a moment before nodding and lowering her hand. The vines slid from the stairwell and back into the ground as Bethany hurried over to her sister.

"I coulda gotten out." Cristlyn muttered beneath her breath as Bethany helped her stand.

"You just got that body." Bethany told her. "Are you really so eager to get it torn apart?"

"I'm fine!" Cristlyn said, pulling out of Bethany's grasp. "Geez; chill out already."

"One moment;" The dryad said, "You mentioned recently getting your body; am I correct in assuming you are Samantha's sisters?"

"Yes." Bethany said, taking the dryad's knowledge of them as a good sign. "Bethany Sakamota of the Saybaro, and Cristlyn of the Genovis facility."

The dryad seemed to recognize Bethany, but seemed puzzled at Cristlyn's introduction.

Sighing, Cristlyn said, "The one in Wukice."

Recognition dawned on the dryad's face. "So you were both formerly CICs as well? I understand. Please, go on up."

Bethany and Cristlyn traded curious looks.

"They're expecting you. " The dryad said, obviously feeling it explained everything; without another word, she turned her attention back to the garden.

"Well." Gill said, letting out a small cough. "We should probably go."

"Yeah." Cristlyn said, giving the dryad one final glare before she rejoined her sister and the Glyche student.

They walked in silence for a few floors before Gill let out another polite cough. "So, how are you two finding your newfound freedom?"

"Are you kidding? It's fantastic!" Cristlyn said. "As a CIC, I had to work to see thing as more than just data. You know how hard it is to enjoy a nice symphony when you can feel part of your mind noticing every instrument that misses a note by even a fraction of a second? To look at a painting and to see it for what it is without part of you analyzing the trace elements that differentiate the colors?"

"To enjoy a piece of cake without having to analyze every single atom." Bethany said.

After a few moments, she realized they were looking at her, Cristlyn with a bemused expression.

Blushing, Bethany said, "Um, so Gill; what are you studying?"

"Oh, I'm majoring in Gineran Magi-technology. Fascinating subject; the idea of merging the order and dependability of technology with something as chaotic in nature as magic."

"Yes," Cristlyn said, stifling a yawn. "Fascinating."

Bethany shot her sister an annoyed look before looking back at Gill. "Are you planning to be a magi-tek technician or engineer?"

"Actually, I'm hoping to become a Builder." He said, rubbing the back of his shiny head. "There's a lot of demand for good Builders on Earth, and I'd like to help, maybe even join up with the Knights of the Star."

"Uh-huh." Cristlyn said. "Looking to be the next Crash, huh? Fight some monsters, save innocents, make a name for yourself?"

Gill blushed. "No! I mean, maybe. Who doesn't want to be a hero? I do have a concrete goal, however."

"Really? What's your goal?" Bethany asked.

"Have you heard of the Ulasomorf project?" When Bethany shook her head, Gill said, "Well, it's all very hush-hush, but apparently the Knights of the Star are close to building a starship capable of travelling beyond our galaxy."

Cristlyn chuckled. "That would be a lot more impressive if we didn't live on a planet with sentients."

"Yes, sentients can portal across great distances, but they have to have already been there to do it. I'm talking about actual faster-than-light travel."

"Physically impossible." Cristlyn sniffed.

"I know." Gill said, a grin spreading across his face. "But not magically impossible."

They both stared at him for a moment before Bethany realized his meaning. "A Magi-tek starship engine?"

"So I've heard. In development since the days of the Old Rangers, if rumors are true."

Cristlyn looked impressed despite herself. "Clever little bioforms. Don't like the way the universe works? Change the universe. Wouldn't want to be the tekker in charge of keeping it running, though."

"I would." Gill said. "Gladly."

Cristlyn shrugged and said nothing. Bethany kept her peace as well; the idea of exploring the boundaries of space certainly had some romance to it. Ultimately, however, she found herself agreeing with Cristlyn. She was feeling homesick already, and she'd only been away from the Saybaro for a few hours.

As they neared the top of the tower, the sounds of chanting could be heard.

"And here comes the hocus pocus." Cristlyn said, sounding vaguely annoyed.

Sighing, Bethany said, "Please don't offend the Seed, Cristlyn."

"Yes, mother."

Bethany frowned at her sister. "I'm serious; Jimmy said he was a kind old man. There's no reason to offend him."

"Yeah, Cristlyn." Seed Thamasa said, inexplicably walking on Cristlyn's other side. "Don't go offending the old man."

He was much as Jimmy described him; pretty much the exact image of a wizard one would imagine upon hearing the word; long beared, sequined robe, pointy hat with a wide brim, pouches strapped to his belt no doubt filled with magical objects and reagants. The only noteable variant on the 'wizened wizard' look was the Seed's massive bushy red mustache, a perfect match for that of King Iniagus. Rumors persisted that the two were related, some even suggesting that they might be the same person.

Cristlyn jumped a little. Holding a hand to her chest, she said, "Creator's Grace, don't do that!"

"Oh, come on!" The Seed said, clapping her on the back. "Just a bit of levity. Now that you're unfettered, you need to learn to have a bit of fun."

"What do you know about that?" Cristlyn said, sounding suspicious.

Thamasa thumbed his nose, his eyes twinkling. "You should see my newest and brightest student."

"That's okay." Cristlyn said as they reached the final step. "We're just here to see our-"

A waterballon hit her right in the side of the face. Bethany couldn't help but laugh at the surprised look on her sister's face as she tried to process what had just happened.

"Think fast!" said a familiar voice.

Bethany turned in time to see another water balloon speeding her way. Her hand shot forward, slicing through the air in a smooth motion and scooping the balloon from the air without breaking it.

"Whoa." Gill said, looking at her with wide eyes. "Nice catch."

"Thanks." Bethany said. In truth, she was only slightly less shocked than Gill. The movement had been automatic ... involuntary, even.

A giggle broke her from her thoughts. Looking away from the water balloon, Bethany found herself staring at a fourth-evolution core unit with blonde pigtails and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a Center of knowledge uniform and held what was undoubtedly a wand in her delicate fingers.

The woman twirled her wand with a delicate hand at a nearby table that was practically covered with water balloons. To Bethany's amazement, one of the balloons rose at Sammy's prompting.

"See Crissy?" Sammy said, a wide grin on her face, "You were wrong! I'm a great wizard after all!"


	12. A Helping Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bethany discusses Angela's disappearance with the Seed while Samantha and Cristlyn get into trouble.

With a flick of her wand, Sammy sent the water balloon flying at Cristlyn, who took it the shoulder as she tried to duck behind a table covered with weird knick-knacks.

Chucking, the Seed said, "She's quite the little spell-slinger. Reminds me of me when I was a little thing."

"But that's impossible!" Cristlyn said, huddled behind the desk with her halter-top plastered to her frame. "We're artificial."

"Yes, but that hunk of crystallic you use as an energy core has a definite stream flux pattern. Magical Skill and talent rely on that body, apparently whether it is artificial in nature or not."

"I think I understand." Bethany said, still holding the water balloon, "Magic is simply a deeper level of awareness of the fabric of reality, and using one's flux to change it. Now that we have localized stream-fields …"

"Boring!" Sammy sent another balloon flying at her sister.

Again, Bethany's body moved as though of it's own accord, this time gracefully stepping aside before slipping her hand around the balloon mid-transit and cradling it just enough to prevent it from bursting. This time, however, she let her arm continue moving in a curve and used the saved momentum to throw the balloon back at Samantha. With a yelp, she ducked behind the Seed's desk, the balloon sailing out of the window behind her.

Flicking the wand over the side of the desk, Sammy raised the rest of the balloons and sent them flying at Bethany. Bethany started moving immediately, weaving and spinning between the balloons with ease and catching each and every one, only to fling them back at Sammy.

Cristlyn said, "Okay, how are you doing that?"

"I don't know." Bethany confessed. "It just feels natural, that's all." Glancing down at the remaining water balloon, she said, "There's something … familiar about it, though."

"Maybe you're a mage as well." Gill suggested.

"Maybe, but I don't think that's what it is." Seed Thamasa said, a calculating look in his eye. "I'm not feeling any magic from her. Odd question; have you ever had any martial training?"

"Me? No. I watch Jimmy's family train sometimes, but …"

Bethany stopped, her mouth still open. "Shal-fen."

"Excuse me?"

"Shal-fen. It's a martial-fighting style developed by the fional. Terra was teaching Fei."

"And you learned all that just by watching?" Gill said. "Damn. I saw you, and I don't think I could do all that."

Bethany frowned. Gill was right; she shouldn't know how to do all that just from watching. Oh, she could probably mimic the movements to a degree, but it wasn't just how to fight; her awareness seemed to sharpen when the balloons were flying at her. Her movements were precise and practiced, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew it wasn't from practice, but from experience … like she'd used it before, in less silly circumstances.

Cristlyn took the balloon from her hands and ran at Samantha. Samantha shrieked and ran away from her sister, flicking her wand around to send stray books, trinkets, gadgets, and whatnot flying at her sister in defense. They disappeared downstairs

"Should we stop them?" Bethany asked.

The Seed chuckled and shook his head. "Bah. I've got too much junk in here as it is; time for a clean up. Let them have their fun. It'll give us a moment."

He looked at Bethany, his smile falling somewhat. "I've heard the rumors, of course; CIC Angela missing. That's why you're here, am I right."

When Bethany nodded, he let out a deep breath. "So it is true. That is … troubling. Angela's influence has touched all of Vinta; anyone capable of taking her out of her facility against her will undoubtedly is up to something unpleasant."

The Seed's eyes moved to Gill. "You there; Gillbert, wasn't it?"

"Close enough, sir." Gill said, bobbing his head.

"You're one of Cid's group, yes? Magi-tek specialist?"

"Yes sir! Working on my thesis."

"Go to Cid, let him know about Angela, and tell him I want him to put together a team to go to Ronisgald and help with the investigation. I want you on that team; a little field work will do you good, and might earn you a few bonus points on that thesis."

"Yes sir!" Gill hurried down the stairs after giving Bethany a quick but polite nod.

"I'd ask you to wait and go with the team." Thamasa said kindly, "But it'll probably take a few days to get the group together, and I'm guessing you're just here to pick up your sister on the way. Am I right?"

"Well, yes." Bethany said, "On the way to Rimstak."

"The Guildmaster's Workshop, am I right?" Thamasa said. "Don't be so surprised; Cristlyn from Genovis, you from the Saybaro, Sammy from Naidyr. I don't see Alaina of Natalya around, so I'm guessing she's with CIC Jocelyn. The Wenapaj facilities; the only one missing is Ethan."

"Ethan." Bethany said, putting a hand to her head. "I just realized we only had six bodies! Five for the Wenapaj sisters and one for Rebecca. I didn't even think about Ethan."

To her surprise, the Seed chuckled at her. "Something tells me that even if you had, he'd probably have abstained from a cross-country journey with six sisters."

She smiled at him, though she did mentally make a note to apologize to him later. The Seed offered his arm, which she hesitantly took. In a strange way, Thamasa reminded her of Desygan. It was something in his eyes, a kind of twinkle that belied the presence of a brilliant mind beyond.

"You're a very caring woman, I can see that." The Seed said as he led her down the stairs. "Jimmy always speaks well of you. I trust he and his are doing well?"

"Yes, very." Bethany said. "They're preoccupied with their baby at the moment."

"Ah, yes; young Annie." He said with a smile. "I always wondered whether Jimmy and Terra named her after Annabelle Kaboume or Lady Annabelle."

"Indeed." Bethany said. In truth, she was pretty sure it was the former; while Lady Annabelle was a friend of the Sakamotas (in as much as anyone can be a friend of the Lady Death), Annabelle Kaboume raised Jimmy since the death of his parents. Uncle Ann definitely viewed herself as Fei, Tifa, and little Annie's grandmother, despite the fact that she recently had a child of her own.

"I hear young Fei has been taking an interest in more scholarly pursuits." The Seed said casually.

"He does well enough when sparring with his sister." Bethany said.

"Well, of course; he's a Sakamota." The Seed chuckled and said, "Still, it's good to know I've got at least one Sakamota likely heading for the Center. Have you considered enrolling yourself, maybe take a few classes in teaching? It'd be interesting to have a Glyche teaching Glyche History."

"An interesting proposition." Bethany admitted, though truth be told, she would much rather stay at the Saybaro. Even unfettered, she felt strange to be so far from her old home. Still, it wasn't like she'd have to move; the teleportation grid would allow her to commute. It was something to consider at least.

When they reached the bottom of the Seed's tower, Bethany was surprised to see Gill, Cristlyn, and Samantha hanging from the roof, their arms and limbs bound by thick vines. The dryad was tending to a patch of brightly-colored wildflowers that looked as though two or more inconsiderate core units had trampled through them.

"Ah, Beth? Good. We, uh, could use a little help." Cristlyn said, her whole face gold

"Crissy started it." Samantha said, trying to wriggle out to no avail.

Sighing, Seed Thamasa patted Bethany's arm and said, "Pardon me, madam."

As he went to talk to the dryad, Bethany approached her hanging sisters, feeling a bit mischievous.

"Such troublemakers." She chided, looking from one to the other. Reaching Gill, she asked, "And how did you get involved?"

"I saw them wrestling in the flowers and tried to get them out of the flowerbed before Neena noticed them."

"And how did that work out?" She asked, unable to keep a small smile from her face.

Samantha's wand lay on the ground not far from where the young CIC hung. careful to twist her knees to the side to avoid displacing her kimono, Bethany crouched and picked up the implement.

"Hey!" Sammy said. "That's mine!"

"And I'll give it to you when your on the ground." Bethany told her. "Or were you wanting to risk breaking it when the three of you fell down?"

To Bethany's surprise, the vines binding the three core units chose that exact moment to release them. In short; they did fall down.

"Creator's Grace." Cristlyn muttered as she stood. "It was just a bunch of flowers."

Not wanting to risk another incident, Bethany said, "Cristlyn, could you wait outside the tower?"

"Why? I'm just-"

"Cristlyn!"

"All right! I'm going!" With a final glare at the dryad, Cristlyn left the Seed's tower.

"She's just mad 'cuz I totally got her!"' Sammy said as Bethany handed back her wand.

"Are you two going to be this way for the whole trip?"

"Trip? What trip?" Sammy asked, a puzzled expression on her face.

"To Rimstak. We need to go pick up Jocy and Alaina."

"What for?"

"So we can go to Ronisgald and try to find Mom."

"Can I come?"

Resisting the urge to sigh, Bethany said, "Of course you can."

Squeeing, Samantha hugged Bethany before hurrying after Cristlyn. "Hey! Hey! Sis! Wait up already!"

"I'd say have a safe trip." Gill said, watching her go, "But maybe a quick trip would be a better idea."

"Indeed." Bethany said. "Fortunately, the teleport grid should get us most of the way. Once we're in Rimstak, we should be able to use the Node network to get to the Guildmaster's Workshop."

"Ugh. Be careful when using the nodes, okay? I passed through Shadeside on the way here, and believe me; it's easy to get lost in that place, especially if you're not used to Rimstak."

"I'll be careful." Bethany promised, shaking Gill's proffered hand. "I guess I'll see you in Ronisgald then?"

"We'll be there." Gill promised. "And don't worry; I'm certain we'll find Angela. We've got Ronisgald's tech division, Cid'll definitely be sending along the best Tekkers and Builders, and who better to help investigate a missing Glyche CIC than her daughters? With you all focused on the search, we'll find her in no time."


	13. Squabble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After getting lost in Rimstak, Bethany has a nice chat with the Skyway Repair Squad.

"Bethany! She's doing it again!"

Bethany didn't even bother turning around. She didn't need to; peacekeeping only works if both concerned parties actually want peace.

It started innocently enough; Cristlyn would occasional stumble or get caught in a slight gust. Sometimes, some small object (usually a piece of litter) would bounce off the back of her head. Bethany thought these occurrences strange, as she had no similar impediment. Then, as their walk was punctuated by increasingly loud and frequent swears from Cristlyn, Bethany gradually put the pieces together. Samantha, ever playful and probably still a bit resentful of the sister who barged into her inner sanctum and messed with her things, was a wizard (or a witch, Bethany supposed; she wasn't sure how titles worked in the wizarding world). Sure enough, she soon caught Sammy flicking her wand at Cristlyn moments before a burst of wind nearly knocked her off her feet.

She'd scolded her youngest sister for the prank, of course; their bodies were hardy, but that was no reason to risk damaging it for the sake of a laugh. Samantha apologized immediately; after a few more minutes, however, it started again. Strangely, nothing ever came her way; perhaps her display of agility made Sammy think it a waste of time better used to wind up Cristlyn.

It wasn't entirely Sammy's fault, though Bethany was loathe to admit it. They'd been lost for about an hour, and although Bethany was certain they weren't going in circles. They were in Rimstak, though exactly where was a bit of a mystery. Rimstak has about eighty-separate districts in Shadeside alone, over a hundred including Shineside. Wherever they were must've been fairly unpopulated, at least during the day; they'd only seen a few Rimstakkens since they entered Rimstak, and that was at the border.

They were on Shineside, Bethany knew that much (given that there wasn't a massive floating continent above them, this was fairly obvious), but beyond that, she had no idea. Her maps of Ronisgald were over two-thousand years old; while she had a vague sense of where the Guildmaster's workshop was located (based on the old position of Jocelyn's facility), the maze-like streets made taking a straight-line path impossible.

"Quit it!" Cristlyn said, taking a swat at her sister.

Sighing, Bethany said, "Cristlyn, Samantha, could you please just behave?"

"But she started-"

"I don't care!" Rubbing her forehead, Bethany said, "Look, there's no sugar-coating it. We're lost."

"We are not lost." Cristlyn said, "We just need to get to a node, that's all. They're supposed to be all over the place, right?"

In fact, they had passed three nodes moments after entering the city. Bethany wanted to take the node, as it would've deposited them right at the Guildmaster's Workshop.

"Unfortunately," Bethany said, putting her hands on her hips, "Someone just had to go on foot. To enjoy the ambiance of the streets."

"Yeah," Bethany said defensively. "Didn't hear you complaining when we were eating that fried ice-cream about an hour ago."

Blushing, Bethany said, "It's been ages since we've seen a node, and I have no idea where we are now."

The three of them glanced around for a few moments. Bethany presumed her sisters were trying to find some sign of where they were.

Samantha raised her wand and pointed down an adjoining street. "There!"

"Did you spot something?" Cristlyn asked, squinting.

"No, but I'm a wizard."

Cristlyn slowly turned to look at Sammy. "You do realize that's not a valid reasoning, right, Sammy?"

"If I'm a wizard, maybe I can see into the future!"

"Yes," Cristlyn said, "And maybe I can shoot peppermint humbugs from my eye sockets."

"Cristlyn." Bethany said,.

"What? She's a wizard, not a fortune teller. It's not even a legitimate form of magic!"

"Is so!" Sammy said, already sulking.

"It is not!" Cristlyn said, "Studies show that even those proven to have a high chance of foretelling future events are wrong at least twenty-percent of the time."

"One out of five predictions are incorrect." Bethany said. "Those aren't terrible odds."

Cristlyn snorted. "You aren't helping, Beth."

Now in full-on sulk mode, Sammy stomped her foot. "That's the right way!"

"You have no idea if that's-"

Bethany stepped between them. Putting her hands on Cristlyn's shoulders, she said, "Look, it's as good a direction as any."

Rolling her eyes, Cristlyn said, "Ugh, Fine. At least when we prove she's wrong," She paused to glare at Samantha), "She might shut up about this seer crap."

Sammy stuck her tongue out at Cristlyn. There was something very off-putting (yet, Bethany couldn't help but feel, rather endearing) about the way Sammy still acted like a little girl; it was fine when she was projecting a hologram of the same age, but her new body appeared to be the same twenty-something female form used by her sister's cores; the only difference being the face and the hair. If anything, she was a little taller than the rest (limb length being easily adjustable until the fifth evolution).

"Fine." Bethany said, motioning to the alleyway. "Sammy, would you like to take the lead?"

"I'm the leader? Yay!" With that, she started skipping down the alleyway.

Cristlyn rolled her eyes and followed, Bethany following behind.

They followed Samantha for the better part of an hour, randomly turning down tight alleyways, climbing through large residential areas, and even tromping through one of the freshener groves.

Bethany was intrigued by the carefully crafted 'trees' that were something of a mystery even to the local Rimstakkens; each leave, each acorn, every bit of natural-looking bark was carefully sculpted to look natural, while being one-hundred percent artificial. The sensors of her body, though not as in-depth as those she had access to as the Saybaro's CIC, could detect that the air around the trees was significantly cleaner. The trees themselves converted standard airborne waist gases and materials into energy, which were then fed back into Rimstak's power-grid.

The creator of the trees may have been a mystery, but their function was not; the Rimstakkens treated the trees like a national treasure, particularly in the denser areas of the country, and treated the appearance of new trees as a pleasant surprise. There was even an entire group devoted to caring for the trees. Not that the Skyway Repair Corps had much work; the trees were largely self-sufficient, so work usually consisted of cleaning up litter, repairing and replacing broken leaves and twigs, and general landscaping functions. In truth, the SRC were more the gardening type than the technical type. Still, the trees seemed to prosper with their aid, so the SRC was lauded as a helpful volunteer group and its members viewed as selfless and caring.

There were three members of the SRC working on one of the trees as Bethany and her sisters passed. A large panel of bark lay on the ground as the first, a tired-looking Galden wearing mostly denim, carefully checked the inner circuitry of the tree. He was engaged in conversation with his two co-workers. The next SRC member was a woman; at least, Bethany thought she was a woman. She wore coveralls, and her hat blocked most of her face. The remaining member was a woman as well, her shorts and bikini top more suited to the warm day, but Bethany was surprised to recognize her as having demon heritage; in addition to the two short horns twisting through her curly silver hair, she had a long scaly tale poking out of the back of her blue-jean shorts, the tip looking both vaguely heart-shaped and sharp. Half of a heart pendant hung around her neck, polished ivory with a gold setting.

"... showing a twenty-percent decrease in illness." The man said as he slid the panel back into place. It clicked into place without leaving so much as a seam. As he stood up, he noticed Bethany and her sisters passing. "Oh. Hello there."

"Good afternoon." Bethany said, noting that he wore the other half of the heart-pendant, his half ebony with a silver setting. "To your wife and friend as well."

The demon-woman bowed her head, a surprising kindness in her eyes. "I love your dress. It's a kimono, isn't it?"

"Yes, actually." Bethany said, blushing as the demon-woman walked around her. "It was a gift from Jimmy and Terra."

"Indeed? Well, it suits you quite well." Glancing at the man, she said, "What do you think, Alan?"

"You know I'm not going to answer that question, Mel." Alan said, smiling at his wife.

She chuckled before wrapping her arms around him. "It's just an aesthetic observation, honey. I think she's quite lovely; just like a little china doll with really poofy hair."

Bethany's face was quite gold now. "T-thanks." She stammered, The woman in the coveralls nodded as well.

"It's beautiful." Bethany said, nodding at the tree. "Amazing construction. Tell me, have they found a way to replicate the technique?"

"Not as of yet." The man said. It may have been Bethany's imagination, but she thought his expression looked a little smug as he said this. "Air a little thick around your place?"

"No, but the tree in front of the Saybaro's getting old; we've done what we can, but it's simply nearing the end of its life. A tree like this would be a nice replacement when that happens."

"The Saybaro?" The man asked, sounding a little surprised. "So you're from Wenapaj?"

"Yes." Bethany bowed politely. "Bethany Sakamota, of the Saybaro."

"Bethany? The CIC's name is Bethany, isn't it?" The man said, shaking her hand.

"Er, yes. These are my sisters ..." She turned to Cristlyn and Samantha, only to find them gone.

"The blonde and the red-head?" The demon-woman asked, glancing down the road. "They were with you? They didn't bother stopping."

"Of course not.' Bethany said, rubbing her temple.

The touch of a hand against her hair made her look up suddenly. The woman in the coveralls pulled her gloved hand back quickly. "I'm sorry." she said, her voice barely a whisper. "I ... like what you've done with your hair."

"Thank you." Bethany said, her cheeks again golden.

"Will you be okay? Without your sisters, I mean."

"It's okay." Bethany said, feeling oddly comforted by the woman's concern. "We're all heading to the same place. I'm sure Cristlyn and Sammy will figure out their way." Hopefully before murdering each other, she added to herself. "We're here to see our sister, Jocelyn."

"As in CIC Jocelyn, I take it?" Alan said, rubbing his chin. "You're quite a ways from the Guildmaster's Workshop. What brings you this far from home anyway? Did CIC Bethany send you?"

"In a manner of speaking." Bethany said. "A ... member of our family has gone missing. We're trying to find her."

A look of sympathy fell over the demon woman's face. "I'm sorry to hear that. Still, if she's Glyche as well, I'm sure Jocelyn will be able to help you."

"Indeed." Alan said. "Do you need help finding the Guildmaster's workshop?"

Before Bethany could answer, someone with a surprisingly loud voice called out, "Ah! There you are being! I am looking for you and your sisters for nearly an hour!"

Bethany turned to see a Rimstakken woman with curly red hair tied in an untidy pony-tail. Her face was instantly recognizable to any who lived in the Saybaro, particularly Bethany.

"Uncle Ann!" Bethany said, hurrying toward Jimmy's former guardian. "Thank the Creator, am I glad to see you!"

"And I am being delighted to be seeing you, CIC Bethany ... or perhaps, just Bethany now?"

"Pardon me?" The man said, sounding a little alarmed. "You're CIC Bethany?"

"I was." Bethany admitted. "But we found a workaround."

"To look for your missing family member." The man said. "I must admit, that's quite noble of you. Do you mind if I ask who has gone missing?"

"My apologies." Bethany said, "I don't want to alarm anyone; a control matrix was left in her place, but should they know the CIC has gone missing-"

"I understand completely." Alan said. "Can I assume that Cristlyn and Samantha are also their respective CICs?"

"Yes." Bethany said.

"And this missing family member; she's also likely in a core unit frame?"

In truth, the idea had not occurred to her; they'd taken the core units to go search for Angela; perhaps someone had put Angela into a core unit to kidnap her as well. Perhaps someone else had come up with their own prototype core specifically for the intention of imprisoning the Ronisgald CIC. The idea was terrifying; it was one thing to kidnap mother; in a body, she could be tortured, or exposed to any number of unpleasant scenarios. The world of sensation, a blessing to Bethany, could become a curse in the right circumstances.

"It is likely." Bethany said, making a note to mention it to her sisters. "If so, we need to recover her before any harm comes to her."

"I agree completely." Alan said, glancing at his companions. "Look, it isn't much, but I'll make sure the SRC keeps an eye out for her."

"Thank you, Mister Alan," Bethany said. "I'm not sure if she's anywhere near Rimstak, but as Jimmy says, never say no to a friendly hand."

"Wise words." Alan said. "Good luck, Miss Sakamota. Annabelle."

"And you as well, Alan. Come along, Bethany; you have had a long trip, and are no doubt being exhausted."

Nodding, Bethany waved goodbye to the demon-woman and the worker in the coveralls and cap before allowing Uncle Ann to lead her away.


	14. Rest Stop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uncle Ann brings Bethany to her lab for a quick rest.

Uncle Ann certainly knew her way around Rimstak; in a matter of moments, they were out of the backstreets and on roads that were practically crammed with people. Bethany's grip on Ann's hand tightened, prompting a curious glance from the Rimstakken woman.

"Oh, that is being correct." She said, "You are not having much dealing with the over-populace."

"No." Bethany confessed. "Even when I first came online, the Saybaro was a fairly isolated location; a few hundred people at most, many of whom were simply travellers from other facilities in transit."

"Well, you'll not be letting go of my hand; I will ensure you are not getting to be overwhelmed."

"Thank you." Bethany paused a moment. "I guess Jimmy asked you to meet with us?"

"I am requesting it myself! Had I been knowing of your departure earlier, I would've met you before your departure! Rimstak is being a confusing place to some, after all, and you are being family."

Bethany's hand ran across the Sakamota Clan markings on her obi. Yes, she supposed if Jimmy considered her as a sister, that would make Uncle Ann family. The idea of blood ties never meant much to the Glyche, after all.

There were so many people in the streets that Bethany almost couldn't fathom it; how could they all live and work in such a confined location? She was used to the wide chambers and corridors of the Glyche; in comparison, Rimstak's narrow roads seemed especially small, especially with the crowds.

Still, Uncle Ann was a person of some reknown, and few were willing to stand in her way. Those that did found themselves prodded aside by the business end of a wrench. Many smiled and waved at her, earning at most a quick smile before Uncle Ann trudged onward.

It wasn't until passing a large mirror being moved into a nearby building that Bethany realized how strange they looked; timid Bethany with her tall and slender frame, her silk kimono, and her long, bushy, white hair coupled with the short, curvy Uncle Ann with her dirty work clothes, her determined expression, and her mass of red curls bound behind her head that threatened to break their bonds with every step she took.

It was in the mirror that she caught sight of something sailing towards her at a dangerous speed. Once again, she moved almost instantly, her hand catching the object in mid-air and stopping it's momentum. It was a brick.

Uncle Ann's face darkened when she realized what had happened. "All right." She said, her voice cutting over the din of the street. "Who threw that?"

The throng of Rimstakkens thinned out considerably, with no one daring to look Uncle Ann in the face. Sighing, she took the brick from Bethany. "My apologies; always there are some idiots who cannot help but act as children."

"After the Corruption ..." Bethany said.

"The Corruption was being thousands of years ago; those that followed were merely accidents. After the incident at Yaevin station, I am expecting the peoples of Vinta to be more understanding. You and yours are having saved these peoples. As far as I am having concerned, your efforts have more than atoned for any previous losses."

She patted Bethany's arm. "Not that I feel it appropriate to be blaming you for any of that. The Glyche were corrupted by a bioform, after all, and you were not even being programmed at the time."

Chuckling, she said, "Corrupted by a bioform, saved by a Dreamer and a prototype, and vindicated by my own Jimmy and his friends and kin, myself included. I am being most proud; it is not being everyday one is a part of history."

Bethany wasn't sure how to respond to this. Fortunately, Uncle Ann didn't wait for a response.

Shaking her head, Uncle Ann said, "My apologies again; I am allowing distraction. You are no doubt needing to sleep. I am guessing the Wenapaj teleportation grid is being dropping you off at the border?"

"Just a bit beyond it, actually." Bethany said. "There's a small waystation just outside the Tullus district."

"Ah, right; you are arriving from Shadeside then. All the more reason to allow yourself rest." She patted Bethany's arm. "Not to be worrying; we are not far now."

Uncle Ann's Workshop was a sizeable building; built in an old warehouse previously used to import goods from Rising Star, it was a great deal larger than the average workshop, owing in no small part to her family's business.

As they entered the workshop, Bethany was amazed at the amount of space devoted to half-built inventions, the purpose of some she could only guess at. "I'd imagine land prices around here are at a premium."

"Very much so." Uncle Ann said as she led Bethany down the stairs. "Fortunately, shards are not being much of a concern. My brother is being more than generous with the profits of our father's company."

"How is Oteng?" Bethany asked; she'd only met the man at Jimmy's wedding; a nice, if somewhat aloof fellow who seemed to resonate a strange energy.

"He is being fine. Busy, though." Uncle Ann said. "I am not having envy; running the Zuen Mega-corp is not being pleasant, I am imagining. That is why I am being happy to leave it to him, freeing myself for my own work. See here!"

She pointed at a sleek-looking ship held in place by anti-gravity generators. It looked like a one-person floater, thought the wings bespoke of more power than the average flying car.

"I am calling it a Zoomer." Uncle Ann said proudly. "One-person transportation capable of reaching the moon colonies. It is being a work in progress, but I am making great strides! Soon, our brethern on the moon will be able to come to and fro with having no trouble!"

"Amazing." Bethany said, and she meant it; space travel involved bulky engines, massive energy reserves, and enough failsafes to make even a CIC dizzy. As such, using one of Vinta's few functioning space ships just to go to Everblue or Traysia was considered a waste. There was always the option of having a sentient create a portal there, but the rates were outrageous.

Shaking her head, Uncle Ann said, "But we can be discussing inventions later, once I have retrieved your sisters. For now, you are needing rest."

"I was really hoping to reach the Guildmaster's Workshop before resting." Bethany said.

"There is being no reason to push yourself." Uncle Ann chided her. "Your situation is being an unusual one; we are still not knowing if your integration is being complete. As such, I am wanting to run a few scans on your core to ensure everything is at full operational capacity ... while you rest, of course. Angela's disappearance is a priority, and I am certain you are wanting to be moving as soon as you can."

"Yes." Bethany said, "Thank you, Uncle Ann."

"It is not a trouble, Bethany."

They neared a small pod ... far too small for Bethany. As they drew near, however, it was clear that wasn't Uncle Ann's intent; inside the pod was a baby boy, no older than a year yet already with the same red hair as his mother. He was playing with a small toy of Rimstakken make; a sphere of colors that could be turned this way and that, producing strange sounds when certain configurations were reached. The baby abandoned the toy as soon as he spotted his mother and her guest, giving them a wide grin. Bethany smiled back, noting the child's gray eyes.

"Still," Uncle Ann said as she slid the pod's safety door open, "I am doubtlessly thinking you will be wanting to meet your cousin, Bigga."

"Bigga?" Bethany asked as Annabelle lifted the baby from the pod.

"After my second uncle ... mother's side, of course."

"Bigga Kaboume." Bethany repeated, a hint of a smile crossing her face. "I like it."

Beaming at her, Uncle Ann asked, "Would you like to be holding him on the way to your resting pod?"

"Of course!" Bethany cooed at the rimstakken infant as Uncle Ann passed him to her. He looked uncertainly at Bethany for a moment before looking back to his mother.

"Be saying hello to your cousin." Uncle Ann said, smiling at her son.

Bigga looked at Bethany again for a moment before reaching a plump hand forward and grabbing her nose. Bethany giggled, prompting Bigga to giggle as well. Cradling him carefully, she continued playing with him as Uncle Ann led the way through the mess that was her workshop. Bethany couldn't help but wonder as to the mess; surely it was hazardous to such a small child. Still, that was doubtlessly why she had him in a safety pod; perfectly air-conditioned and equipped with audio and video links, it was the perfect place to keep a young Rimstakken child out of trouble while his parents attended to other matters.

"Is Thyme around?" Bethany asked curiously.

"Occasionally." Uncle Ann said, a frown momentarily crossing her face. "Not as much as I am liking, but I am understanding his position."

"Have you considered moving to Erris?"

"And abandon my work?" Uncle Ann said, looking appalled. "My dear, I am missing him, but we both simply have our own lives. We may never truly be in the same household in such a manner as Jimmy and Terra. I am to understand Terra's parents have a similar arrangement.

"They do." Bethany admitted. "Devon still stops by every month, like clockwork. I heard Terra telling Jimmy that they're expecting again."

"By the Creator." Uncle Ann said, shaking her head. "I am finding one child to be a handful; I am not being able to imagine having eighteen!"

She paused to give her son a kiss on the forehead. "Not that I am trading you for all the world, little one."

Bigga giggled again, tugging briefly on one of Uncle Ann's stray red curls.

Smiling, Uncle Ann continued until they reached another pod, this one clearly incorporating some Glyche designs.

"Oh." Bethany said, somewhat put out. "I know you said scans, but I was thinking I'd be resting in a bed."

"And so you shall be doing." Uncle Ann twirled the pod around to reveal the inside was considerably wider than that of a standard pod, and appeared to be well cushioned; there was even a red blanket inside.

"If you wish to disrobe, it can give your shell a good cleaning as well." Uncle Ann said. "I am testing it out myself; an unusual but definitely not unpleasant experience."

"I have been walking for awhile." Bethany said. Handing Bigga to his mother, Bethany started to undo her obi but felt a sudden surge of embarressment.

"Um ..." Bethany said, her cheeks gold, "Could you ... I mean ..."

"What is being ..." Uncle Ann's alrady ruddy cheeks went even darker as she realized Bethany's predicament. "Oh, right. My apologies."

Uncle Ann turned around. Modesty reasonably sated, Bethany took off her kimono, folded it carefully, and set it on a nearby table. Taking a moment to push back her mass of hair, she picked up the blanket and wrapped it around her.

Once she was in the pod, she said, "Okay."

"Excellent. I will see that your clothes are cleaned properly; Jimmy is giving me the lecture on how to properly clean such styles."

Once Bethany was in the pod, Bethany tapped a button on the attached panel. To Bethany's surprise, the pod tilted until she was lying on her back. The cushioning of the pod was quite comfortable; not as much as a proper bed, she felt, but more than enough for her to close her eyes and slowly drift into sleep. Just before her auditory systems shut down, she heard Uncle Ann say, "Pleasant dreams, Bethany."


	15. Such a Scolding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Guildmaster is not happy with the CICisterhood.

The door to the Guildmaster's Office slid open. The Guildmaster sat at the desk, working diligently on a small construct that looked a little like a robotic chicken. Bethany paid the Guildmaster little attention, however, as she saw Alaina sitting on a beat-up couch resting against the wall on her right-hand side.

"Alaina!" Bethany said, hurrying forward to her sisters. She froze at the sound of a plasma rifle's safety being unhitched.

The Guildmaster looked up with a frown. "That is not being necessary."

"Affirmative., Guildmaster." The whine of the rifle's power cell faded.

Alaina was the first to rise, her eyes alight. "Ohmigosh! Bethany! You look so pretty!"

"You as well." Bethany said, hugging her sister. "Sorry it took so long to get here."

"Oh, Phhb. It's fine; it took Jocy a little time to prepare herself for the transfer."

"Yeah, I remember." Cristlyn said. "So did she finally cave, or is she still down there?"

"Jocelyn should be finished transferring by tomorrow." The Guildmaster said. "According to our technicians, the transfer has gone smoothly."

"Ah, thank you." Bethany said, "I'm sorry for sneaking in here, but-"

"Your subversive entrance is not bothering me." The Guildmaster said. "I'm being warned by One and Rebecca before your arrival. What is bothering me is the thoughtlessness of you and your sisters."

"I beg your pardon?" Bethany said, taken aback.

The Guildmaster left off the device she was working on and looked Bethany in the eye. "I am frankly being much appalled at the lack of sense you are all displaying."

"Hey!" Cristlyn said, hands on her hips. "We're trying to find our mother."

"Yes, and in doing this, you are abandoning your facilities. You in particular are abandoning your Inheritor, Sir Sakamota. Does their friendship mean nothing to you?"

"I ... I didn't ... I mean, Jimmy said-"

"Jimmy is being far more of understanding than I." The Guildmaster said. "He is having sent me a message as well, informing me of your arrival and requesting that I am providing assistance to you."

"Well, are you going to help?" Cristlyn said, clearly taking issue with the Guildmaster's tone. "Or are you just gonna bitch at us?"

"You are doing well to remember where you stand!" The Guildmaster said. "Our relations with the Glyche have improved, yes, but are you so willing to put that in jeopardy? There are still many who harbor dark feelings towards your kind. If your new shells were to be damaged, you may never be recovered. You do realize there is no going back, correct?"

"Back to what?" Alaina asked, perplexed. "To being facility CICs?"

"Affirmative. CICs are incapable of being copied; your data could be transferred back, but already your core programming has begun to change. Your experiences, the sensory information from those bodies; these are things you are not being able to extract later. Being in your old position without the ability to be comprehending these sensations, or worse feeling them as though your entire facilities were your bodies would no doubt be maddenning."

"Well, good riddance." Cristlyn said. "I mean, even if I still lived in the Genovis facility, I wouldn't want to go back to the way I was. This way, it's like I'm my own inheritor. Besides, Bethany's the only one who has actual people living in her facility."

This left Bethany feeling rather flustered. Once again, it seemed like blame was being shifted to her ... and she didn't even understand what was so wrong.

"I'm gonna have some people soon!" Sammy said. "Uncle Thamasa said so; he wanted to use the Naidyr facility's living quarters as a new dorm. I thought it was cool!"

"And I'm going to have more people too." Alaina said. "I mean, now that I can leave my facility, i can really get a start on advertising the Natalya Hotel!"

"The Natalya Hotel?" The Guildmaster said, as though she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You're going to use your facility as a hotel?"

"Yes!" Alaina said, either not aware of the Guildmaster's scorn or uncaring.

"Your people gave their lives hoping that CICs like you would keep their legacy going." The Guildmaster said. "You are capable of doing such great things, and yet you are settling on making yourself a hostess?"

"So what if she does?" Cristlyn said. "Her choice, isn't it? And why are you acting like Mom? Truth is, our creators wanted us to live our own lives, make our own choices. I'd bet anything that if they knew we would one day be able to leave our facilities, they'd be happy ... or is it somehow fair to you that we be imprisoned under the earth until the suns go nova?"

This left the guildmaster a bit flustered. Fortuantely, the elevator opened to reveal a young rimstakken girl and a sentient man.

"Mommy, mommy!" The girl said, running to the guildmaster's desk, brushing by Cristlyn in the process. She put a small box on the desk and stood there, practically vibrating with excitement.

With a swift glance at Cristlyn, the Guildmaster picked up the box. After a cursory examination, she lifted the lid. A tinny music-box melody began to play, simple yet strangely comforting.

"That's a nice melody." Cristlyn said, smiling.

The little girl looked at her, beaming. "I made it!"

"Really?" Cristlyn said, squatting down so she could see eye-to-eye with the little girl. "It's clockwork, isn't it?"

"Uh-huh." The girl said shyly. "I like clockwork. It's all winding and spinning and whoosh! things are happening!"

"Wouldn't you like to work with more advanced tech?" Cristlyn asked kindly, "Lasers and stream flux?"

The little girl shook her head. "I like the cogs."

"Y'know what? So do I. You make a lot of music as well?"

"I'm gonna put music boxes in everything I make!" She proclaimed.

"Kajex." The Guildmaster said, her tone plaintiff.

Nodded, the man took the little girl's hand and said, "Let's let mom alone for a bit, eh? Time for lunch anyway."

Once they were gone, Cristlyn said, "Sweet girl."

"Thank you." The Guildmaster said, still looking a little embarressed at the interruption.

"So I'm guessing you told her to leave off the clockworks then?"

"If she is enjoying it, then I am seeing no harm." The Guildmaster said.

"But she's a smart kid; good with machinery, obviously, good with a melody; surely, if she's capable of doing more, that's what she should do."

"I am knowing what you are attempting to say." The Guildmaster said. "I am just ... we are still feeling a worried as to the possibility of Corruption. As CICs you could be fighting it; as core units ..."

"There won't be any more Corruptions." Bethany said. "There can't be; the Answer has been transmitted to all functional Glyche. Even if another corrupted Glyche is discovered, it will be unable to infect any of us. Even transversion cells can't corrupt anyone anymore."

"There is still some question as to the validity of that." The Guildmaster said.

"So you think we shouldn't have left because of a chance that may not even exist?" Alaina said, "That's not fair."

"Life is not necessarily fair."

Bethany chuckled. "Don't let One hear you say that.'

To her surprise, Guildmaster Mschens actually smiled at that. "Yes ... you are being correct."

Sighing, she rubbed her forehead and said, "I am simply wishing you and your sisters had been more open with discussion about this. You represent some of the oldest survivors of the Glyche; if you were lost to bandits or because some crazy individual bore a grudge against the very force you saved us from, a considerable part of their legacy would be lost forever. With Angela's disappearance, such an outcome seems at least somewhat possible."

"We understand that." Cristlyn said.. "Look, I admit I only know you from the limited records of Mikaen and Narrator Number One, but I can't help but notice that isn't the first music box to come in here."

Bethany glanced around; Cristlyn was right; she'd written them off as simple decorations, but they were all music boxes; dozens of them.

"Missus Shae, your daughter will one day make her own choice as to her future. You'll warn her about the dangers, you may even try to keep her here. Sooner or later, though, you'll let her leave. Why? Because you love her too much to keep her here against her will.. And let's be honest here; can you blame her? Her mother certainly didn't care about the danger as the flew the Phoenix through the Dream Realm."

"No, she didn't." The Guildmaster said.

"And I don't think the Glyche meant to keep us against our will either. THey wanted us to succeed them, and we will. We have; the Cleftans, the new core units, the recovered units, and the CICs. And be honest; can you look me in the eye and tell me that this wasn't how things were gonna turn out in the end?"

The Guildmaster looked Cristlyn in the eyes for a long moment before letting out a sigh. "I am understanding your point. I am not being happy with it, but as you say, it is being your choice. I am merely hoping that you will be very careful in your travels. It is what Angela would have wanted."

"You are knowing Angela in terms of friendship?" Bethany said.

"Yes. Angela's disappearance after so many years of being instrumental in keeping the peace of our world is being a little troublesome, but also is worrying me greatly."

"Well, don't worry." Sammy said. "We're gonna find what happened to Momma and get her back."

The Guildmaster looked each of the sisters in the face. Nodding with approval, she said, "Then you are not having to do so alone; I will be coming with you."

"Whoa there!" Cristlyn said, "You're the Guildmaster. Something happens to you, then we are in big trouble."

If you are to be allowed your own decisions, then I ask for the same privilege. Perhaps I too can aid the search in some manner." The Guildmaster said. "Besides, I have already begun preparations on the Phoenix for the trip."

"The Phoenix?" Alaina said, "We're getting to fly on the Phoenix? Wow!"

"That's so Cool!" Sammy said. "I wanna see the sky from the main deck!"

"First things first." The Guildmaster said, "You are wanting to collect your sister, correct? She is linking the elevator to her facility at my request quite a time ago. Simply be pressing the correct combination of buttons."

"Excellent." Cristlyn said, rubbing her hands together. "What's the combination?"

"You are not knowing it?" Guildmaster Mschens asked, sounding surprised. "I ... was thinking that you might have that knowledge when i redirected your lift."

"Nah, that was Sammy." Cristlyn said.

Sammy beamed. "I hit all the buttons!"

"I see." Guildmaster Mschens said, a ghost of a smile on her lips. "When needing facility access in the past, she is always contacting me. Can you not teleport into the facility at such a close range?"

"Not if she didn't set an input transit point." Bethany said. "If so, it'll default to the nearest surface location. Perhaps the Boglins could be of assistance?"

"Don't be silly." Guildmaster Mschens said. "There are no such creatures as boglins! One was simply hallucinating on duct fumes."

Sighing, Cristlyn said, "Well, I guess that means we'll have to do this the hard way."


End file.
